美国科学家在实验室里合成了脊髓灰质炎病毒
【医业网据美联社2002年7月11日华盛顿讯】据在实验室里合成了脊髓灰质炎病毒的研究人员说，如今可以从互联网上下载一种基因图并利用邮购材料来合成这一致命性病毒了。
“人们最好做好准备”，美国纽约大学生物医学研究小组的负责人威姆(Eckard Wimmer)说，他们就是利用从互联网上得来的资料和从某实验室定制的基因材料合成了病毒，并将病毒注入小鼠体内，证实它确实有效--小鼠瘫痪后死亡。“我们这么做的原因是想证明可能这么做，这已成为一个现实”，威姆说。有关文章见最近的《科学》杂志(Science)。“方法已被提出来了，但人们还没认真对等此事”，他说，“现在必须得认真对待了。生物医学研究的进展有利但也有弊”。他指出，消除户外的病毒并不等于它永远不存在了，生物科学家就能重建它们。本论文的第一作者西罗(Jeronimo Cello)说，在实验室合成的脊髓灰质炎病毒是最简单的人类病原物之一。“合成它很容易”，而要合成天花和其它致死性病毒要复杂和困难得多，“也许将来可以”，他说，“现在想合成天花病毒还很困难，但最终能做到”。
, 百拇医药
天花病毒已从自然界消灭了，但美国和前苏联的实验室里还保存着样本。有些专家很担心这类样品很可能被藏起来今后作为武器使用。去年的恐怖事件以后，美国的官员担心天花病毒的威胁，开始组织生产足够的疫苗来保护美国人民。现在他们正在检测如何使用这些疫苗。脊髓灰质炎病毒已快从自然界根除了，人们已打算停止接种其疫苗，但威姆反对这样做，他认为停止接种将让总人群对该病毒高度敏感，强化了它作为武器的危险性。WHO计划储存脊髓灰质炎疫苗，威姆说各地都应如此。“我们建议，你得保留任何一种不想使用的试剂”。
德州大学医学中心生物防御中心的主任彼特斯(C.J. Peters)说，专家们从理论上早就知道在实验室里可能合成病毒。他批评了基姆的这一演示证明，“我认为这样并没有什么帮助”，他说，“基姆是个聪明人，他研究脊髓灰质炎病毒有很多建树，但这次不是”。他担心公开宣扬可以合成病毒会让人相信“对生物恐怖已无能为力了”。他还认为，埃博拉之类的病毒也可能在实验室合成，但世界上没有几个人有这种技术，“我想我们不必鼓励人们把这种事当作爱好”。
, 百拇医药
“生化恐怖分子没能从我们这儿学到什么”，基姆说，“我们做的每一件事都是以发表过的，我们只是将它们放到了一起。很多实验室都可以重复我们所做的”。实验所需的基因序列是从供货公司定购的，应制订法律来管理这类物品的分配销售，供货公司应上报任何可疑的定购，并且要通过计算机很快地检查所定购的基因序列，看是否能用以合成危险病毒。“如果有人定购了大量这类病毒，供货公司应向当局报告。要预防滥造是一件简单的事情”，他说。
Dangerous Virus Can Be Made in Lab
Thu Jul 11, 2:02 PM ET
By PAUL RECER, AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Experts can now download a genetic blueprint from the Internet and use mail-order materials to assemble a deadly virus, say researchers who made a synthetic polio ( news - web sites) virus in the lab to demonstrate the threat.
, http://www.100md.com
"The world had better be prepared," said Dr. Eckard Wimmer, leader of a biomedical research team at the University of New York at Stony Brook where the virus was assembled.
The researchers made the virus in the laboratory using data from the Internet and tailor-made sequences ordered from a laboratory supply service. They injected the virus into mice to show that it worked. The animals were paralyzed and then killed.
, 百拇医药
"The reason we did it was to prove that it can be done and it now is a reality," said Wimmer, senior author of a study appearing Friday in the journal Science.
"This approach has been talked about, but people didn't take it seriously," he said. "Now people have to take it seriously. Progress in biomedical research has its benefits and it has its down side. There is a danger inherent to progress in sciences. This is a new reality, a new consideration."
, 百拇医药
Wimmer said the laboratory demonstration proves that eradicating a virus in the wild may not mean it is gone forever. Now, he said, biochemists can reconstruct viruses.
The polio virus assembled in the laboratory is one of the simplest of the human plagues, said Jeronimo Cello, first author of the study.
"It was very easy to do," he said.
Smallpox and other lethal viruses are much more complex and difficult to assemble, but Cello said, "Probably in the future it would be possible."
, 百拇医药
Wimmer said it "would be very difficult now to re-create the smallpox virus, but eventually you would be able to do that."
Smallpox was eradicated in the wild, but laboratory specimens were retained in the United States and in the Soviet Union. Some experts worry that some specimens could have been hidden for later use as a weapon.
After last fall's terrorist and anthrax-by-mail attacks, U.S. officials became concerned about the threat of smallpox and arranged for the manufacture of enough vaccine to protect the U.S. population. They are now determining how that vaccine should be used.
, 百拇医药
Polio is on the brink of being eradicated worldwide and there are plans to stop inoculations against the disease after it disappears from nature. Wimmer warned against such plans, saying stopping vaccination could lead to a generation of people highly susceptible to polio, enhancing its danger as a weapon.
The World Health Organization ( news - web sites) is planning to stockpile polio vaccines and Wimmer said that should be done everywhere.
, 百拇医药
"Our message is that you have to keep stockpiles of vaccines for every agent that you try to eradicate," he said.
C.J. Peters, director of the Center for Biodefense at the University of Texas Medical Center at Galveston, said experts have known for years that it was theoretically possible to assemble a virus in the lab.
"This may be the culmination of sewing Frankenstein together, but this is not the research that led up to Frankenstein," Peters said of Wimmer's work. "We've known this could be done. We've known it was just a matter of time before it was done."
, 百拇医药
Peters criticized Wimmer's demonstration, saying, "I don't think this has been very helpful."
"Wimmer is a very smart guy," he said. "He has made a lot of contributions to polio, but this is not a great contribution."
Peters said he was concerned that publicity about a synthesized virus may lead some people to believe "there is nothing that can be done about bioterrorism, which is not the case."
, 百拇医药
He said it is possible that viruses like Ebola ( news - web sites) could be assembled in laboratories, but few people in the world have that skill.
"I don't think we need to encourage people to take this up as a hobby," said Peters.
"Bioterrorists didn't learn anything from us," said Wimmer. "Everything we did has been published before. We just put the steps together. Many laboratories could repeat what we have done."
, http://www.100md.com
Wimmer said gene sequences used to make the virus were obtained from supply houses that make the materials to order. He said there should be laws that tighten the distribution of such material, requiring supply houses to report any suspicious orders.
Supply houses could quickly check genetic sequences through the computer and determine in seconds if they could be used to make dangerous virus, he said.
"If somebody orders a number of these sequences, then the company should be required to report it," said Wimmer. "It's a simple mechanism to prevent the misuse.", 百拇医药
“人们最好做好准备”，美国纽约大学生物医学研究小组的负责人威姆(Eckard Wimmer)说，他们就是利用从互联网上得来的资料和从某实验室定制的基因材料合成了病毒，并将病毒注入小鼠体内，证实它确实有效--小鼠瘫痪后死亡。“我们这么做的原因是想证明可能这么做，这已成为一个现实”，威姆说。有关文章见最近的《科学》杂志(Science)。“方法已被提出来了，但人们还没认真对等此事”，他说，“现在必须得认真对待了。生物医学研究的进展有利但也有弊”。他指出，消除户外的病毒并不等于它永远不存在了，生物科学家就能重建它们。本论文的第一作者西罗(Jeronimo Cello)说，在实验室合成的脊髓灰质炎病毒是最简单的人类病原物之一。“合成它很容易”，而要合成天花和其它致死性病毒要复杂和困难得多，“也许将来可以”，他说，“现在想合成天花病毒还很困难，但最终能做到”。
, 百拇医药
天花病毒已从自然界消灭了，但美国和前苏联的实验室里还保存着样本。有些专家很担心这类样品很可能被藏起来今后作为武器使用。去年的恐怖事件以后，美国的官员担心天花病毒的威胁，开始组织生产足够的疫苗来保护美国人民。现在他们正在检测如何使用这些疫苗。脊髓灰质炎病毒已快从自然界根除了，人们已打算停止接种其疫苗，但威姆反对这样做，他认为停止接种将让总人群对该病毒高度敏感，强化了它作为武器的危险性。WHO计划储存脊髓灰质炎疫苗，威姆说各地都应如此。“我们建议，你得保留任何一种不想使用的试剂”。
德州大学医学中心生物防御中心的主任彼特斯(C.J. Peters)说，专家们从理论上早就知道在实验室里可能合成病毒。他批评了基姆的这一演示证明，“我认为这样并没有什么帮助”，他说，“基姆是个聪明人，他研究脊髓灰质炎病毒有很多建树，但这次不是”。他担心公开宣扬可以合成病毒会让人相信“对生物恐怖已无能为力了”。他还认为，埃博拉之类的病毒也可能在实验室合成，但世界上没有几个人有这种技术，“我想我们不必鼓励人们把这种事当作爱好”。
, 百拇医药
“生化恐怖分子没能从我们这儿学到什么”，基姆说，“我们做的每一件事都是以发表过的，我们只是将它们放到了一起。很多实验室都可以重复我们所做的”。实验所需的基因序列是从供货公司定购的，应制订法律来管理这类物品的分配销售，供货公司应上报任何可疑的定购，并且要通过计算机很快地检查所定购的基因序列，看是否能用以合成危险病毒。“如果有人定购了大量这类病毒，供货公司应向当局报告。要预防滥造是一件简单的事情”，他说。
Dangerous Virus Can Be Made in Lab
Thu Jul 11, 2:02 PM ET
By PAUL RECER, AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Experts can now download a genetic blueprint from the Internet and use mail-order materials to assemble a deadly virus, say researchers who made a synthetic polio ( news - web sites) virus in the lab to demonstrate the threat.
, http://www.100md.com
"The world had better be prepared," said Dr. Eckard Wimmer, leader of a biomedical research team at the University of New York at Stony Brook where the virus was assembled.
The researchers made the virus in the laboratory using data from the Internet and tailor-made sequences ordered from a laboratory supply service. They injected the virus into mice to show that it worked. The animals were paralyzed and then killed.
, 百拇医药
"The reason we did it was to prove that it can be done and it now is a reality," said Wimmer, senior author of a study appearing Friday in the journal Science.
"This approach has been talked about, but people didn't take it seriously," he said. "Now people have to take it seriously. Progress in biomedical research has its benefits and it has its down side. There is a danger inherent to progress in sciences. This is a new reality, a new consideration."
, 百拇医药
Wimmer said the laboratory demonstration proves that eradicating a virus in the wild may not mean it is gone forever. Now, he said, biochemists can reconstruct viruses.
The polio virus assembled in the laboratory is one of the simplest of the human plagues, said Jeronimo Cello, first author of the study.
"It was very easy to do," he said.
Smallpox and other lethal viruses are much more complex and difficult to assemble, but Cello said, "Probably in the future it would be possible."
, 百拇医药
Wimmer said it "would be very difficult now to re-create the smallpox virus, but eventually you would be able to do that."
Smallpox was eradicated in the wild, but laboratory specimens were retained in the United States and in the Soviet Union. Some experts worry that some specimens could have been hidden for later use as a weapon.
After last fall's terrorist and anthrax-by-mail attacks, U.S. officials became concerned about the threat of smallpox and arranged for the manufacture of enough vaccine to protect the U.S. population. They are now determining how that vaccine should be used.
, 百拇医药
Polio is on the brink of being eradicated worldwide and there are plans to stop inoculations against the disease after it disappears from nature. Wimmer warned against such plans, saying stopping vaccination could lead to a generation of people highly susceptible to polio, enhancing its danger as a weapon.
The World Health Organization ( news - web sites) is planning to stockpile polio vaccines and Wimmer said that should be done everywhere.
, 百拇医药
"Our message is that you have to keep stockpiles of vaccines for every agent that you try to eradicate," he said.
C.J. Peters, director of the Center for Biodefense at the University of Texas Medical Center at Galveston, said experts have known for years that it was theoretically possible to assemble a virus in the lab.
"This may be the culmination of sewing Frankenstein together, but this is not the research that led up to Frankenstein," Peters said of Wimmer's work. "We've known this could be done. We've known it was just a matter of time before it was done."
, 百拇医药
Peters criticized Wimmer's demonstration, saying, "I don't think this has been very helpful."
"Wimmer is a very smart guy," he said. "He has made a lot of contributions to polio, but this is not a great contribution."
Peters said he was concerned that publicity about a synthesized virus may lead some people to believe "there is nothing that can be done about bioterrorism, which is not the case."
, 百拇医药
He said it is possible that viruses like Ebola ( news - web sites) could be assembled in laboratories, but few people in the world have that skill.
"I don't think we need to encourage people to take this up as a hobby," said Peters.
"Bioterrorists didn't learn anything from us," said Wimmer. "Everything we did has been published before. We just put the steps together. Many laboratories could repeat what we have done."
, http://www.100md.com
Wimmer said gene sequences used to make the virus were obtained from supply houses that make the materials to order. He said there should be laws that tighten the distribution of such material, requiring supply houses to report any suspicious orders.
Supply houses could quickly check genetic sequences through the computer and determine in seconds if they could be used to make dangerous virus, he said.
"If somebody orders a number of these sequences, then the company should be required to report it," said Wimmer. "It's a simple mechanism to prevent the misuse.", 百拇医药