返老还童台词（返老还童台词英文版及翻译）

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没想到，在对试验结果进行进一步的分析中，他们发现受试者的表观遗传学时钟（epigenetic clock）（通过分析一个人基因组上的标记，来测量一个人的人体生物学年龄）平均都少了2.5年。此外，参与者的免疫系统（immune systems）也显示出恢复活力的迹象（signs of rejuvenation）。

进行这项试验的研究者们对这一发现也是大为震惊。

“I’d expected to see slowing down of the clock, but not a reversal,” UCLA researcher Steve Horvath told Nature. “That felt kind of futuristic.”

“我原本期待（表观遗传学）时钟会慢下来，而不是逆转，”加州大学洛杉矶分校的研究人员史蒂夫·霍瓦特在接受《自然》杂志采访时表示。“（逆转）还真有点未来感。”

Researchers warn the findings are preliminary: the study only included nine participants and did not include a control group. But if further research confirms the findings, the impact on health care and society’s relationship with aging as a whole could be massive.

研究人员警告说，这些发现只是初步的：这项研究仅包括9名参与者，没有设置控制组。但如果进一步的研究证实了这一发现，这将对卫生保健以及整个社会与老龄化的关系产生巨大的影响。

▲Study accidentally reveals biological aging may be reversible (via Fox News)

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测定人体生物学年龄的表观遗传学时钟，是通过记录生物体DNA的化学变化来测量的。

The epigenetic clock is measured by the body’s epigenome – a record of chemical changes to an organism’s DNA. As people age, chemical modifications or tags are added to people’s DNA, and those change throughout their lives, so by looking at those tags a person’s biological age can be measured.

表观遗传学时钟是由人体的表观基因组来测定的，表观基因组是生物体DNA化学变化的记录。随着人们年龄的增长，化学修饰或标记被添加到人们的DNA中，这些修饰或标记在他们的一生中都会发生变化，因此通过观察这些标记，可以测量一个人的生物学年龄。

Researchers had actually intended to look at how the growth hormone would change the tissue in the thymus gland, which helps with the body’s immune functions and sits in the chest. It normally shrinks after puberty but they hoped to see whether it could be pushed to regrow, by giving participants the growth hormone.

研究人员原本打算研究生长激素是如何改变胸腺组织的。胸腺对人体的免疫功能有益，它位于胸部。正常情况下，它在青春期后会收缩，但研究者希望通过给参与者使用生长激素，看看胸腺是否能被促进再生。

It was only as a secondary consideration that researchers then checked how the drugs changed their epigenetic clocks. The study had finished when the analysis began.

研究人员随后检查了这些药物如何改变表观遗传学时钟，而这只是次要的考量。分析开始时，研究已经结束。

▲Biological age of humans reversed by years in groundbreaking study, scientists suggest (via The Independent)

电影《返老还童》又名《本杰明?巴顿奇事》海报图 via 网络

恰恰就是在这事后的考量中，研究者有了这一惊人的发现。

Horvath used four different epigenetic clocks to assess each patient’s biological age, and he found significant reversal for each trial participant in all of the tests. “This told me that the biological effect of the treatment was robust,” he says. What’s more, the effect persisted in the six participants who provided a final blood sample six months after stopping the trial, he says.

霍瓦特使用了四种不同的表观遗传学时钟来评估每个病人的生物学年龄，他发现在所有测试中，每个试验参与者的情况都有显著的逆转。“这告诉我，这种疗法的生物学效应是强大的。”他说道。更重要的是，停止试验6个月后，在提供最终血样的6名参与者身上，这种效应依然存在。

“Because we could follow the changes within each individual, and because the effect was so very strong in each of them, I am optimistic,” says Horvath.

霍瓦特说:“（对这一发现）我很乐观，因为我们可以跟踪每个人体内的变化，而且每个人的效果都非常强烈。”

▲First hint that body’s ‘biological age’ can be reversed (via Nature)

目前，研究人员正计划进行一项更大规模的研究，参与者的年龄、性别和种族也更加多样化。这三种药物正在进行独立测试，以确定特定的效果。

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文：Du Qiongfang

资料：Fox News, The Independent, Nature

图/题图： iStock, Getty, 网络