一種便宜的維生素有助於降低皮膚癌風險

An inexpensive vitamin can help reduce the occurrence of common skin cancers in people prone to that disease, researchers reported on Wednesday.

週三，研究人員報道，一種便宜的維生素有助於降低常見皮膚癌高危人羣中此類疾病的發生率。

In a clinical trial, people who took two pills a day of nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3 available as a nutritional supplement, had a 23 percent lower risk of developing non-melanoma skin cancer than those who took placebo pills.

在臨牀試驗中，每天服用兩片煙酰胺作爲營養補充劑（一種維生素B3）的人比服用安慰劑藥片者發生非黑素性皮膚癌的風險低23%。

“It’s safe, it’s almost obscenely inexpensive and it’s widely available,” Dr. Diona Damian, the lead investigator of the study, said in a news conference organized by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, who said the findings could be put into practice right away.

該研究的負責人，澳大利亞悉尼大學(University of Sydney)的皮膚病學教授迪奧納·達米安(Diona Damian)博士在美國臨牀腫瘤學會(American Society of Clinical Oncology)舉辦的新聞發佈會上說道：“它（煙酰胺）安全，價格極其低廉，且很容易買到。”該學會稱這一發現可以立即付諸實踐。

“This one’s ready to go straight into the clinic,” said Dr. Damian, a dermatology professor at the University of Sydney in Australia. However, she said the vitamin should be used only by people who get frequent skin cancers, not by everyone.

達米安博士說：“該研究結果可以直接進入臨牀。”不過，她也指出這種維生素只能用於皮膚癌高危人羣，而不適用於所有人。

The study will be presented at the annual meeting of the oncology society, which begins May 29 in Chicago. Abstracts for most of the nearly 5,000 studies were released late Wednesday, and a few results were discussed in a news conference organized by the society.

這項研究還在5月29日開始的芝加哥腫瘤學會年會上發表。與會的近5000項研究中的大部分研究摘要在5月13日晚些時候發佈，其中的一些研究結果在該學會組織的新聞發佈會上得到了討論。

Investors and Wall Street analysts began poring over the abstracts late on Wednesday, looking for information that could affect the stocks of pharmaceutical companies.

從5月13日晚上起，投資者和華爾街分析師們就開始鑽研這些文獻摘要，以期從中尋找可能影響製藥公司股票的信息。

In another study, an experimental drug for relapsed multiple myeloma being developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb and AbbVie reduced the risk of cancer progression by about 30 percent when added to two existing drugs.

另一項研究報道，在現有的兩種藥物——雷利米得（Revlimid，即來那度胺）和地塞米松——的基礎上，添加使用百時美施貴寶公司(Bristol-Myers Squibb)和艾伯維公司(AbbVie)開發的一種治療複發性多發性骨髓瘤的實驗性藥物elotuzumab，可將癌症進展的風險降低約30%。

Those who received the experimental drug, called elotuzumab, had a median of 19.4 months before their cancer worsened or they died, compared with 14.9 months for those who received only the two existing drugs, Revlimid and dexamethasone.

在僅接受現有兩種藥物的患者中，中位無進展生存期（即癌症惡化或患者死亡前的時間中位數）爲14.9個月，相比之下，在加用了elotuzumab的患者中，中位無進展生存期爲19.4個月。

A spokeswoman for Bristol-Myers said it was premature to say when the company would apply for approval of the drug. Another trial is in progress.

百時美施貴寶公司的一位女發言人說，談論公司將何時申請批准該藥還爲時過早。還有一項試驗正在進行當中。

The skin cancer prevention study focused on non-melanoma skin cancer, particularly basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas. Together, these are the most common form of cancer in the United States, with the most recent study estimating that in 2006 there were 3.5 million cases in 2.2 million Americans. Most of these are curable through surgery or other techniques, though the surgery can leave scars and in some cases the cancers do become more serious.

皮膚癌的預防研究主要側重於非黑素性皮膚癌，特別是基底細胞癌和鱗狀細胞癌。這些都是美國最常見的癌症，據最近的研究估計，2006年，此類癌症在220萬名美國患者中就達350萬例。其中大部分都可以通過手術或其他技術治癒，只不過手術會留下疤痕，而且在某些情況下，癌症還會變得更加嚴重。

The study involved 386 people in Australia who had had two or more such skin cancers in the previous five years. The average for the patients in the trial was eight cancers over the past five years; one patient had 52 cases.

本文開篇介紹的研究納入了386名在過去5年內曾發生至少2例上述皮膚癌的澳大利亞人。參與試驗的患者在過去5年平均發生過8例癌症；其中一名患者甚至多達52例。

Those who were randomly assigned to take the vitamin had an average of 1.77 new cancers in the year of the study compared with 2.42 cases for those in the placebo group, a risk reduction of 23 percent, after certain statistical adjustments. Those getting nicotinamide also had fewer cases of actinic keratosis, thick patches of skin that may become cancerous.

經過一定的統計學校正後，被隨機分入維生素組的患者在研究的一年期間平均出現了1.77例新發癌症，較之安慰劑組的2.42例風險降低了23%。服用煙酰胺的患者中光化性角化病、有癌變風險的皮膚胼胝病例也較少。

Dr. Damian said the effect of the vitamin seemed to disappear once people stopped taking it. She said that nicotinamide did not have the side effects, like headache and flushing, of niacin, another form of vitamin B3.

達米安博士表示，一旦停止服用該維生素，它的效果似乎就會消失。她還說，煙酰胺不像另一種維生素B3——煙酸那樣有頭痛和潮紅等副作用。

Protecting oneself from the sun is perhaps the most effective way to prevent non-melanoma skin cancers. Drugs called retinoids, which are related to vitamin A, can also be used, but they can cause birth defects and other side effects. Some studies have suggested that aspirin or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can also be preventative.

防曬是預防非黑素性皮膚癌的最有效方式。也可以使用與維生素A有關的維甲酸類藥物，但它們可能導致出生缺陷和其它副作用。一些研究表明，阿司匹林和其它非甾體類抗炎藥也有預防作用。

Two experts not involved in the study said the results were “interesting and potentially important,” in part because nicotinamide had fewer side effects than the pharmaceutical alternatives for skin cancer prevention.

兩位沒有參與這項研究的專家——美國亞利桑那大學(University of Arizona)皮膚癌研究所(Skin Cancer Institute)的臨牀主任克拉拉·庫列爾-萊萬多夫斯基(Clara Curiel-Lewandrowski)博士和藥理學家史蒂文·斯特拉頓(Steven Stratton)都表示，這些結果“很有趣，且可能有重大意義”，部分原因是煙酰胺的副作用比皮膚癌防治的替代藥物要少。

The experts, Dr. Clara Curiel-Lewandrowski, clinical director of the Skin Cancer Institute at the University of Arizona, and Steven Stratton, a pharmacologist there, said in a joint email that patients should nonetheless talk to their doctors before taking the vitamin.

他們在一封聯名電子郵件中寫道，無論如何，在服用該種維生素前，患者仍應該與自己的醫生商量。