Fat-clogged cells explain why obesity can cause cancer 被脂肪阻塞的細胞可解釋為何肥胖能致癌

科學傢們稱，一項新發現可以解釋肥胖者更容易患癌癥的原因。來自都柏林聖三一學院的研究團隊發現，人體用來破壞癌變組織的一種細胞會被過多的脂肪阻塞，從而停止工作。英國癌癥研究院（Cancer Research UK）稱，在英國，肥胖是僅次於吸煙的最大的、可預防性的致癌因素。

文字稿

Obesity is the biggest preventable cause of cancer in the UK after smoking. More than one in 20 cancer cases are caused by excess body weight, according to Cancer Research UK. Experts already suspect that fat sends signals to the body that can cause growth and damage to cells, resulting in cancer.

在英國，肥胖是僅次於吸煙的可預防的最大致癌因素。據英國癌癥研究院統計，每二十個癌癥病例中就有超過一例是因體重超標而導致的。專傢們已經懷疑，由於脂肪會給人體發出可造成細胞增大和損壞的信號，所以才引發瞭癌癥。

Now the team at Trinity have found another pathway that could explain the obesity-cancer link. Too much fat in the body can clog some of the body’s cancer-fighting cells, according to the new work published in Nature Immunology journal.

現在，這支來自聖三一學院的研究團隊發現瞭另一種可以解釋肥胖與癌癥之間聯系的方法。他們在《自然免疫學》期刊上發表的新研究稱，體內過多的脂肪可能會阻塞體內的抗癌細胞。

By doing tests on these ‘natural killer’ cells in their lab, the researchers were able to pinpoint the steps that led to the clogging. Armed with this knowledge, they hope to be able to find drug treatments that could restore the cancer-fighting abilities of natural killer cells.

通過在實驗室中對這類 “自然殺傷” 細胞進行測試，研究人員得以準確指出造成細胞堵塞的每一個階段。認識到瞭這一點以後，他們希望能找到可恢復這類自然殺傷細胞抗癌能力的藥物療法。

1. 詞匯

obesity 肥胖
preventable 可預防的
excess body weight 超重，體重過重
fat 脂肪
sends signals to 向…發送信號
pathway 途徑、方法
clog 阻塞、堵塞
cancer-fighting 抗癌的
pinpoint 準確地描述
armed with 具備瞭…

2. 閱讀理解：請在讀完上文後，回答下列問題。

1. What is the biggest preventable cause of cancer in the UK?

2. How have the team at Trinity explained the obesity-cancer link?

3. True or false? According to Cancer Research UK, more than 5% of cancer cases are caused by being overweight.

4. Which word in the text means ‘to bring back something to its former condition’?

3. 答案

1. What is the biggest preventable cause of cancer in the UK?
The biggest preventable cause of cancer in the UK is smoking.

2. How have the team at Trinity explained the obesity-cancer link?
The team at Trinity have explained in their new work published in the Nature Immunology journal that too much fat in the body can clog some of the body’s cancer-fighting cells.

3. True or false? According to Cancer Research UK, more than 5% of cancer cases are caused by being overweight.
True. The text says that according to Cancer Research UK, more than ‘one in twenty’, which means 5%, of cancer cases are caused by excess body weight.

4. Which word in the text means ‘to bring back something to its former condition’?
Restore.