每个人都可以读懂的外媒报道，关于日本科学家获诺贝尔医学奖
摘要： 2016年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖授予日本科学家大隅良典（Yoshinori Ohsumi），以表彰他在细胞自噬（autophagy）机制方面的开创性发现。自噬是细胞通过降解和回收自身受损或多余组分来维持健康的重要过程。该机制的失调与癌症、帕金森病、亨廷顿病及痴呆等多种疾病密切相关。
- 大隅良典因揭示细胞自噬的基因调控机制而获得2016年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖。
- 自噬是细胞在饥饿、感染等压力下维持生存的关键过程，可清除老旧物质并生成新细胞。
- 自噬功能异常与多种老年性疾病相关，包括神经退行性疾病和癌症。
- 大隅良典利用酵母模型在1980–90年代取得突破，为后续人类疾病研究奠定基础。
- 目前科研人员正探索通过调控自噬开发治疗癌症和神经退行性疾病的新疗法。
小白老师说：The 2016 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine goes to Yoshinori Ohsumi of Japan for discoveries about the secrets of how cells can remain healthy by recycling waste.**
He located genes that regulate the cellular “self eating” process known as autophagy （自体吞噬）.
Dr Ohsumi’s work is important because it helps explain what goes wrong in a range of diseases, from cancer to Parkinson’s（帕金森症）.
Errors in these genes cause disease.
Last year’s prize was shared by three scientists who developed treatments for malaria（疟疾）and other tropical（热带的） diseases.
“Self-eating”
The body destroying its own cells may not sound like a good thing. But autophagy is a natural defence that our bodies use to survive.
It allows the body to cope with starvation and fight off invading（入侵的） bacteria and viruses, for example.
And it clears away old junk to make way for new cells.
Failure of autophagy is linked with many diseases of old age, including dementia（痴呆）.
Research is now ongoing to develop drugs that can target autophagy in various diseases, including cancer.
The concept of autophagy has been known for over 50 years, but it wasn’t until Dr Ohsumi began studying and experimenting with baker’s yeast（酵母） in the 80s and 90s that the breakthrough in understanding was made.
Dr Ohsumi is reported to be surprised about receiving his Nobel Prize, but “extremely honoured”.
Prof David Rubinsztein, an expert in autophagy at the University of Cambridge, said he was delighted that Dr Ohsumi’s vital work had been recognised（被认可） and rewarded.
"His pioneering（首创的，先驱的） work in yeast led to the discovery of the key genes and fundamental biochemical（生物化学的） processes that are required for autophagy.
"As autophagy is well conserved from yeast to man, his laboratory’s discoveries have also provided the critical tools to many labs to enable the appreciation of the important roles of autophagy in diverse（多种多样的） physiological and disease processes.
“These include infectious diseases, cancers, and various neurodegenerative diseases（神经退行性疾病） such as Huntington’s disease（亨丁顿舞蹈症） and forms of Parkinson’s disease. Indeed, autophagy manipulation（处理，控制） may provide a key strategy for treating some of these conditions.”
新闻来源：BBC NEWS
常见问题
什么是细胞自噬（autophagy）？
细胞自噬是细胞通过分解并回收自身受损或无用成分来维持健康和应对压力（如饥饿或感染）的自然过程。
大隅良典的贡献是什么？
他利用酵母实验首次识别出调控自噬的关键基因和生化机制，使科学界得以深入理解该过程在人类健康与疾病中的作用。
自噬与哪些疾病有关？
自噬功能障碍与癌症、帕金森病、亨廷顿病、痴呆等神经退行性疾病以及感染性疾病密切相关。
为什么用酵母研究人类细胞过程？
自噬机制在进化上高度保守，从酵母到人类基本相同，因此酵母是研究该过程的理想模型生物。