癌症研究:抗生素或導致危險的息肉
Long-term use of antibiotics increases the risk later in life of developing colon polyps, often a precursor of bowel cancer, researchers said Wednesday. The findings, published in the journal Gut, boost evidence that the digestive tract's complex network of bacteria may play a key role in cancer emergence.
研究人員於週三說道，長期服用抗生素會增加以後患結腸息肉的風險，這往往是腸癌的前兆。發表在《消化道》（Gut）期刊上的研究結果證明：消化道細菌的複雜網絡可能在癌症出現中起着重要作用。Earlier research has linked antibiotic use to developing bowel cancer but the potential association with these abnormal growths had not been explored. To find out more, Andrew Chan of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston combed through health records for 16,642 women who were 60 or older in 2004.
早期研究表明服用抗生素與患腸癌之間存在聯繫，但並未探索服用抗生素與息肉異常生長的潛在關係。2004年，爲了解更多信息，波士頓馬薩諸塞州總醫院的陳志輝梳理了16642名60歲或60歲以上女性的健康記錄。The women were enrolled in the Nurses Health Study, which has been following the health of 121,700 nurses in the United States since 1976. The nurses' medications are included in the monitoring. The women examined in the new study had had at least one colonoscopy between 2004 and 2010. During that period, 1,195 cases of polyps were diagnosed.
這些女性參加了護士健康研究，這項研究自1976年以來一直都在關注美國121700位護士的健康。護士服用的藥物也被列入監測範圍。在2004至2010年間，新研究中檢查的這些女性至少進行了一次結腸鏡檢查。在這個時間段，1195人被確診長了息肉。
The researchers found an increased risk of polyps among women who had taken antibiotics for a total of two months or more over a two-decade span. Women who did so in their 20s and 30s had a 36-percent greater chance of polyps forming compared to counterparts who did not extensively use antibiotics.
研究人員發現：在20年的時間內，那些服用抗生素總時長達兩個月或以上的女性，更容易長息肉。相比沒有大量服用抗生素的女性，那些在二三十歲大量服用的女性，她們患息肉的風險增加了36%。The risk jumped by 70 percent in women who took antibiotics for at least two months while they were in their 40s and 50s. "Long-term antibiotic use in early-to-middle adulthood was associated with increased risk of colorectal adenoma," the study said, using the technical term for polyps.
而四五十多歲的女性，若她們服用抗生素的時長超過兩個月，那患息肉的風險則增加了70%。該研究說道，"中青年婦女長期服用抗生素會導致患結直腸腺瘤的風險增加，"結直腸腺瘤是息肉的術語。The study was not based on a controlled experiment, so the evidence that antibiotics somehow lead to the appearance of polyps remains circumstantial, the researchers noted. But there is a plausible explanation for how this might happen, they added.
研究人員指出，該研究並不是基於對照實驗進行的，所以抗生素會以某種方式導致息肉的證據依然是間接的。但他們補充說，這一現象的發生是有合理解釋的。Antibiotics fundamentally alter the population of bacteria in the digestive tract -- the microbiome -- by killing some germs and reducing the population of others. Even when they work as intended by eliminating a disease-causing bug, antibiotics also reduce the gut's resistance to other "hostile" bacteria. This disruption of the natural balance of bacteria, earlier work has shown, is common in patients with bowel cancer.
通過殺死細菌並減少其它細菌的滋生，抗生素從根本上改變了消化道內的細菌羣體--微生物菌羣。即使抗生素能消除致病的蠕蟲，但它同時也降低了腸道對其它有害細菌的抵抗力。早期的研究表明，細菌自然平衡的破壞在腸癌患者中十分常見。
