來源:中國日報網
美國賓夕法尼亞大學的一項新研究表明，含有高水平血管緊張素轉換酶2（ACE2）蛋白的口香糖可“捕獲”新冠病毒，減少唾液中的病毒載量，並有可能抑制傳播，成為一種低成本的抗疫“武器”。
按照研究人員的構想，患者咀嚼這種口香糖時，口香糖含有的ACE2蛋白能“捕獲”唾液中的病毒，可以降低患者因說話、呼吸或咳嗽傳播病毒的可能性。
[Photo/pexels]
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are working to create a special chewing gum that could help reduce the spread of COVID-19 by 'trapping' the virus so a person can't transmit it to someone else.
賓夕法尼亞大學新冠病毒研究人員正在努力研製一種特殊口香糖，它可以透過“誘捕”新冠病毒阻止其感染他人，從而幫助抑制新冠疫情傳播。
Experts agree that vaccinations are the best way to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, but it's also known that vaccinated people can still transmit the virus. The University of Pennsylvania researchers are hoping that their chewing gum will give people a low-cost way to further prevent COVID-19 from spreading.
專家們認為接種疫苗是抗擊新冠的最佳手段，但眾所周知，已經接種疫苗的人仍能傳播病毒。賓夕法尼亞大學新冠研究者希望他們研發的口香糖能成為進一步控制疫情傳播的低成本方法。
'This gum offers an opportunity to neutralize the virus in the saliva, giving us a simple way to possibly cut down on a source of disease transmission,' Henry Daniell, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine and leader of the research, told Penn Today.
賓大口腔醫學學院教授亨利·丹尼爾是該研究的負責人，他告訴Penn Today網站：“這種口香糖可中和唾液中的病毒，為我們提供了一種可能減少疾病傳播的簡單方法。”
The gum contains plant-grown ACE2 proteins, which showed in laboratory studies to neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 virus. When researchers exposed saliva samples from COVID-19 patients to the modified chewing gum, they found the levels of viral RNA were 'drastically reduced' to the point that the virus was almost undetectable.
口香糖含有植物產生的血管緊張素轉換酶2（ACE2）蛋白，實驗室研究表明這種蛋白可以中和新冠病毒。研究人員讓新冠患者的唾液樣本與ACE2蛋白口香糖接觸，發現病毒RNA的含量“急劇下降”到幾乎檢測不到的程度。
'Henry's approach of making the proteins in plants and using them orally is inexpensive, hopefully scalable; it really is clever,' Ronald Collman, a virologist at Penn Medicine who is working on the research, told Penn Today.
賓夕法尼亞大學醫學院病毒學家羅納德·科爾曼在接受Penn Today採訪時表示：“亨利從植物中提取ACE2蛋白並口服使用，這種方法成本低，有希望廣泛推廣，非常巧妙。”
The research is still in its early stages, and the researchers are working on getting permission to conduct a clinical trial in humans to determine if the gum is safe and effective. Should the gum work, Penn Today reported it could be used in situations where people need to be in close proximity to each other—such as a dental cleaning, for example—to reduce the risk of passing the virus to others.
這項研究仍處於早期階段，研究人員正在爭取進行人體臨床試驗的許可，以確定這種口香糖是否安全有效。Penn Today報道稱，如果證實有效，該口香糖可以用於諸如洗牙等需要密切接觸的情況，以降低病毒傳播的風險。
'We are already using masks and other physical barriers to reduce the chance of transmission,' Daniell said. 'This gum could be used as an additional tool in that fight.'
丹尼爾說：“我們已經在使用口罩和其他物理屏障來減少病毒傳播的途徑。這種口香糖可以作為我們額外的防疫武器。”
Before researchers can bring their chewing gum to market, they have to determine how much of it should be used per day, which will be based on how long it takes the virus to replicate. However, if it does prove to be an effective tool at combating coronavirus, Daniell told 'hundreds of millions of chewing gum' could be produced within three months.
在研究人員將該口香糖推向市場之前，他們必須確定口香糖的每日用量，這取決於病毒複製所需的時間。丹尼爾表示，如果ACE2蛋白口香糖被證明確實能有效對抗新冠病毒，“數億口香糖”可以在三個月內生產出來。
來源：Newsweek編輯：董靜
