ノーベル賞 山中氏への支援体制を手厚く

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Oct. 10, 2012)
Beef up support for research of Nobel laureate Yamanaka
ノーベル賞　山中氏への支援体制を手厚く（10月9日付・読売社説）

Kyoto University Prof. Shinya Yamanaka has been awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
　山中伸弥・京都大教授に、今年のノーベル生理学・医学賞が贈られることになった。

We offer our heartiest congratulations to him for winning this prestigious prize.
　その栄誉を称(たた)え、心から喜びたい。

It is the first time in 25 years that a Japanese won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The only other Japanese laureate in this field was Susumu Tonegawa, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in 1987.
　日本人が生理学・医学賞を受賞するのは、１９８７年の利根川進博士以来、２５年ぶりである。

Yamanaka won the prize for developing a technology to reprogram somatic cells--a technology to return somatic cells such as skin cells to a state immediately after fertilization--the beginning of life. He was awarded the prize jointly with British scientist John Gurdon.
　山中教授の授賞理由は、皮膚などの体細胞を、生命の始まりである受精直後の真っさらな状態に戻す「体細胞初期化」技術を開発したことだ。同じ分野の先達である英国のジョン・ガードン博士との共同受賞となる。

After fertilization, cells develop into specific cells of various tissues and organs as they grow and gradually age. Yamanaka's research reversed this process, which previously went in only one direction.
　受精した細胞は、成長するにつれ、様々な組織や臓器の細胞に分化し、次第に老いてゆく。一方向にしか進まないこの過程を逆戻りさせたのが山中教授の研究だ。

It was an epoch-making achievement. Since Yamanaka announced results of his studies in 2006, his name has been at the top of the list of front-running Nobel candidates every year.
　画期的な業績である。山中教授は、２００６年に成果を発表した後、毎年、ノーベル賞受賞者予想で筆頭に挙げられてきた。

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Reprogramming cells

Yamanaka won the prize only six years after the announcement of his findings, probably due to the high expectations for the application of the technology in the medical field.
　６年でのスピード受賞となったのは、医療への応用に高い期待があるからだろう。

Cells reprogrammed using Yamanaka's technology are called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells. Organs and tissues damaged by diseases and injuries could theoretically be replaced with cells made from iPS cells. Such "regenerative medicine" is not just a dream anymore.
　山中教授の技術で初期化された細胞は「ｉＰＳ細胞（新型万能細胞）」と呼ばれる。病気やケガで傷んだ臓器や組織を、ｉＰＳ細胞で作った細胞で置き換える「再生医療」も、もはや夢ではない。

For instance, the technology could be used to treat a patient paralyzed from the waist down due to a damaged spinal cord. Injecting nerve cells developed from iPS cells made from the patient's skin cells might regenerate his nerves and enable him to walk.
　例えば、脊髄が損傷し下半身マヒとなった患者の治療だ。本人の皮膚細胞から作製したｉＰＳ細胞由来の神経細胞を注入すれば、拒絶反応なしに神経を再生でき、歩行が可能になるかもしれない。

Although Yamanaka's studies are still at the basic research stage, the technology has the potential to completely innovate medical technologies in the future.
　まだ基礎研究ながら、将来的には医療を一新する可能性を秘めていると言えよう。

Kyoto University, where Yamanaka works, has obtained international patents on iPS cells as part of its efforts to stay at the top of research and development in this field.
　山中教授の所属する京大は、ｉＰＳ細胞の作製法で国際特許も取得し、研究開発でトップを維持しようと努めている。

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Japan lags other nations

However, the United States and some European countries, for instance, have jumped ahead in research aimed at actually putting the technology to practical use. Yamanaka has repeatedly sounded the alarm about this development, saying, "The United States and Europe are way ahead in terms of research funds and human resources."
　しかし、実用化を目指す研究は欧米の方が先行している。山中教授は、「欧米は研究資金も人材もはるかに潤沢」と、繰り返し警鐘を鳴らしている。

In these nations, major pharmaceutical companies have been spending huge funds to advance iPS research. A shortage of researchers is not a problem for them.
　欧米では、大手製薬企業が巨費を投じて研究を進めている。研究者の層も厚い。

Japan lags behind, not only in the field of iPS cells, but also in research systems for new drugs and treatment techniques.
　これに対し日本では、ｉＰＳ細胞に限らず、新薬、新治療法の研究体制で後れを取っている。

Yamanaka's Nobel Prize success is a prime opportunity for the whole nation to reinforce efforts to energize research labs.
　今回の受賞決定を契機に、国を挙げて、研究現場を活性化する取り組みを強化せねばならない。

Yamanaka's technology has also generated a new problem. Some observers have raised concerns that in research that fertilizes eggs with sperm, both created using iPS cell technology, a new life would be born through an abnormal reproduction process.
　山中教授の技術は、新たな問題も生んでいる。精子や卵子を作って受精させる研究では、通常の生殖を経ない生命誕生になる、との懸念が指摘されている。

Consideration of this issue from a bioethics viewpoint should not be neglected.
　生命倫理面での検討も、なおざりにはできない問題である。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 9, 2012)
（2012年10月9日01時27分 読売新聞）