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mRNA: Technology behind Two COVID-19 Vaccines
信使核糖核酸：兩大新冠疫苗背後的技術
It takes years of research and testing to produce a vaccine. But scientists are hopeful that a technology called messenger RNA, or mRNA, could produce a safe and effective vaccine against COVID-19 by the end of the year.
疫苗生產需要經過多年的研究和測試。但是科學家們希望在今年年底前，一種名為信使核糖核酸（mRNA）的技術可以生產出安全有效的新冠肺炎疫苗。
The World Health Organization (WHO) says there are 11 COVID-19 vaccine candidates currently undergoing Phase 3 trials around the world. The trials involve large groups of volunteers. Some receive the experimental vaccine while others are given an inactive substance called a placebo.
世衛組織表示，目前全球有11種候選新冠肺炎疫苗正在進行3期試驗。這些試驗涉及了大量志願者。有些志願者接種了實驗性疫苗，另一些則接種了被稱為安慰劑的非活性物質。
Among the most promising vaccine candidates are two that use mRNA technology. Those experimental vaccines come from American drug-makers Moderna and Pfizer. Pfizer is partnered with German company BioNTech on the project.
在最有前途的候選疫苗中，有兩種採用了信使核糖核酸技術。這些實驗性疫苗來自美國製藥商莫德納公司和輝瑞公司。輝瑞跟德國BioNTech公司合作進行了這個項目。
On Monday, Nov. 9, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that their mRNA-based experimental vaccine appears to be more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19.
11月9日的周一，輝瑞和BioNTech公司宣布，他們基於信使核糖核酸技術開發的實驗性疫苗在預防新冠肺炎方面的有效性似乎超過了90%。
The partnership said the early finding involved 94 volunteers in the trial who developed COVID-19. About 44,000 volunteers took part in the late Phase 3 study. An independent group of scientists called the Data Safety Monitoring Board examined the study.
這兩家合作公司表示，早期結果有94名志願者在這期試驗中感染了新冠肺炎。大約有44000名志願者參加了最後的3期試驗。一個名為數據安全監測委員會的獨立科學家小組對該研究進行了審查。
Pfizer and BioNTech also said they have found no serious safety concerns in the testing so far. They expect to seek emergency use permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) later this month. The agency requires a vaccine be at least 50 percent effective for emergency use.
輝瑞和BioNTech公司還表示，到目前為止，他們在試驗中並未發現嚴重的安全隱患。他們希望本月晚些時候獲得美國食品和藥品管理局的緊急使用授權。該機構要求疫苗的緊急使用至少要有50%的有效率。
Dr. Anthony Fauci is the U.S. government's top infectious diseases expert. He called the safety result of Pfizer and BioNTech's study "extraordinary."
福奇博士是美國政府最頂級的傳染病專家。他稱輝瑞和BioNTech公司的安全性結果「非同尋常。」
"Not very many people expected it would be as high as that," he said.
Dr. Bruce Aylward is a top adviser at the WHO. He said Pfizer's vaccine could "fundamentally change the direction of this crisis."
布魯斯·艾爾沃德博士是世衛組織的頂級顧問。他說輝瑞公司的疫苗可能「從根本上改變這場危機的發展方向。」
Two days later, Massachusetts-based Moderna announced that it is preparing to send its Phase 3 study to the Data Safety Monitoring Board. Moderna said it has more than 53 cases of COVID-19 infections out of 30,000 volunteers.
兩天之後，位於麻薩諸塞州的莫德納公司宣布，該公司正準備將其3期試驗發給數據安全監測委員會。莫德納公司表示，在3萬名志願者中，已有53例新冠肺炎感染病例。
Fauci told the Financial Times that he expected good results from Moderna's study because the two mRNA-based vaccines are "identical in many respects."
福奇對英國《金融時報》表示，他預期莫德納公司的試驗會取得良好的結果，因為這兩種信使核糖核酸疫苗「在許多方面相同。」
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says vaccines usually contain an inactive or weakened virus. Vaccines introduce a virus to the body to force the production of antibodies that fight the virus.
美國疾病預防和控制中心表示，疫苗通常含有無活性或是弱化的病毒。疫苗將病毒引入人體，以迫使人體產生抵抗該病毒的抗體。
Both Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines are made with mRNA technology. They do not contain the coronavirus itself. To make an mRNA vaccine, scientists create a genetic material that directs the human body to produce antibodies that can recognize and destroy the coronavirus.
輝瑞公司和莫德納公司的疫苗都採用了信使核糖核酸技術。它們不包含新冠病毒本身。為了生產信使核糖核酸疫苗，科學家們創造了一種遺傳物質，指導人體產生可識別和破壞新冠病毒的抗體。
No mRNA product has been approved to treat people. Research in the technology started nearly 30 years ago.
目前尚沒有信使核糖核酸產品被批准用於治療患者。這項技術的研究始於近30年前。
In 1990, University of Pennsylvania scientist Katalin Karikó proposed using mRNA technology in gene therapy. At the time, the technology was difficult to work with. When she injected lab mice with the genetic material, some died.
1990年，賓夕法尼亞大學的科學家凱特琳·卡瑞克提出在基因治療中採用信使核糖核酸技術。當時該技術很難應用。當她向小白鼠注射遺傳物質時，有些小白鼠死了。
Karikó worked with colleague Drew Weissman. They made a critical discovery in 2005. They replaced one of mRNA's four chemical building blocks with a slightly modified compound called pseudouridine. Weissman said, "We submitted that for a patent, and that was the birth of therapeutic RNA."
卡瑞克與同事德魯·韋斯曼一起合作。他們在2005年做出了一項重大發現。他們用一種經過輕微修飾的化合物假尿嘧啶核苷替換了信使核糖核酸中4個化學組成部分之一。韋斯曼表示：「我們提交了一項專利，這就是治療性信使核糖核酸的誕生。」
Karikó now works for BioNTech supervising development of its mRNA product.
卡瑞克目前在BioNTech公司負責監督其信使核糖核酸產品的開發。
Karikó and Weissman's findings, however, did not receive much attention until 2010. That year, Harvard University scientist Derrick Rossi used modified mRNA in his stem cell research. Rossi, along with several others, licensed the technology to establish a new biotech drug-maker called Moderna. The name is a combination of the words modified and RNA.
然而，卡瑞克和韋斯曼的發現直到2010年才受到關注。那年，哈佛大學的科學家德裡克·羅西在他的幹細胞研究中使用了經過修飾的信使核糖核酸。羅西與其它幾家公司一起獲得了這項技術的許可，從而建立了一家名為莫德納的新型生物技術製藥公司。這個公司名稱結合了modified 和 RNA這兩個單詞。
Rossi is no longer with Moderna but he credited Karikó and Weissman with the mRNA discovery. He told the medical website Stat that the two researchers deserve the Nobel Prize in chemistry.
羅西不再就職於莫德納公司，但是他將信使核糖核酸的發現歸功於卡瑞克和韋斯曼。他對Stat醫學網站表示，這兩位研究人員應獲頒諾貝爾化學獎。
"If anyone asks me whom to vote for some day down the line, I would put them front and center," he said. "That fundamental discovery is going to go into medicines that help the world."
他說：「如果有人問我有一天在這個研究方向上會把票投給誰，我會把他們放在最重要的位置。這一基礎發現將被用於拯救世界的藥物中。」