A drug approved last year for women with ovarian tumours has shown remarkable benefits in some men with advanced prostate cancer, UK researchers have found in what they say is a “landmark clinical trial” of genetic oncology.

英国研究人员在他们所称的一次“里程碑式的（遗传肿瘤学）临床试验”中发现，去年批准的一种治疗女性卵巢肿瘤的药物，对部分患晚期前列腺癌的男性显示出明显疗效。

The Institute of Cancer Research in London, which carried out the study with the Royal Marsden hospital and a wide range of funding bodies, said that olaparib — the drug introduced last year by AstraZeneca under the trade name Lynparza — would benefit 25 to 30 per cent of patients with advanced prostate cancer.

这项研究由伦敦癌症研究院(Institute of Cancer Research)与皇家马斯登医院(Royal Marsden Hospital)及多个基金会合作开展。伦敦癌症研究院表示，25%到30%的晚期前列腺癌患者将从这个名为奥拉帕尼(Olaparib)的药物中受益。该药物是去年由阿斯利康(AstraZeneca)推出的，商品名为Lynparza。

These men carry specific genetic mutations that affect their cells’ ability to repair damaged DNA. While this enables cancer to get started, olaparib further disrupts the repair mechanism — causing so much damage that tumour cells can no longer survive, said Joaquin Maleo, lead author of the study, which is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

这些男性携带特殊的基因突变，会影响他们细胞修复受损脱氧核糖核酸(DNA)的能力。该研究报告第一作者华金氠莱奥(Joaquin Maleo)表示，尽管这种突变令癌得以萌生，奥拉帕尼却会进一步扰乱修复机制，造成很大的损伤，以至于肿瘤细胞无法再存活。该研究报告发表在《新英格兰医学期刊》(New England Journal of Medicine)上。

“Our trial marks a significant step forward in the treatment of prostate cancer, showing that olaparib is highly effective at treating men with DNA repair defects in their tumours,” added Johann de Bono, head of drug development at the Institute of Cancer Research. “It also proves the principle that we can detect prostate cancers with specific targetable mutations, using genomic sequencing to deliver more precise cancer care by matching treatment to those men most likely to benefit.”

伦敦癌症研究院药品开发主管约翰德博诺(Johann de Bono)补充说：“我们的试验标志着前列腺癌治疗取得了重大进展，证明了奥拉帕尼对治疗肿瘤中存在DNA修复缺陷的男性非常有效。该试验还证明了可用特定靶向性突变诊断前列腺癌的原理，我们可利用基因测序，将治疗手段与最可能受益的男性匹配起来，实现更精准的癌症治疗。”

The study included 49 men with terminal prostate cancer that had resisted previous treatment. Fourteen of them — those with detectable DNA repair mutations — responded very well to the drug, surviving for much longer than expected for patients with such advanced disease.

这项研究的对象包括49名患晚期前列腺癌的男性，此前的治疗手段对他们无效。在他们中间，14人携带可检测到的DNA修复能力突变。这14人对该药物的反应非常好，存活时间远远长于患如此晚期癌症的病人的预期存活时间。

The results have led to a second trial, now getting under way, in which only patients whose DNA shows detectable repair mutations will receive olaparib. If it confirms the findings of the first study, olaparib could become a standard treatment for advanced prostate cancer in men with these mutations.

这些结果促使研究人员设计了第二个试验，该试验正在进行当中。在第二个临床试验中，只有那些DNA具有可检测到的修复能力突变的患者才会服用奥拉帕尼。如果这次试验确认了第一次试验的结论，奥拉帕尼或成为携带这种基因突变的晚期前列腺癌患者的标准治疗手段。