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Altered gene leaves people totally painfree
改变的基因导致人们完全感觉不到疼痛
Naturally occurring changes in a previously unstudied gene can prevent people from experiencing pain. And that's not good. It can leave them dangerously unaware of harm.
如果先天自然形成的基因发生自然性的改变，那么人类感受疼痛能力将会受阻，导致他们意识不到伤害，这样很危险！
Researchers presented the finding May 25 in Nature Genetics.
5月25日研究者在自然遗传学上递交了这篇报告。
The gene's name is PRDM12. Pain is the body's way of signaling that something is wrong. Certain mutations- naturally occurring changes - in that gene keep people from feeling pain. Robbed of this warning, affected people may fail to protect themselves from unintentional injuries. Such injuries could range from skin burns or scratched eyes to missing digits.
该基因叫做PRDM12，疼痛是身体意识危险的信号。特定基因突变---自然发生的改变---导致人类感受不到疼痛。这一预警信号被"劫持"后，那些受影响人将不能在无意识的伤害中保护自己。这些伤害包括皮肤灼伤，被抓挠的眼睛，甚至还包括丢失的脚趾手指等等。
However, there is some good news in the finding. Better understanding of how a mutated PRDM12 gene blocks pain might one day lead to better treatments for people who suffer from too much pain.
但幸运的是在这项调查中还有好消息，即更好地了解突变的基因PRDM12是怎样阻止疼痛或许某天会应用到那些正在遭受极大痛苦的人身上。
"It's promising, but there's a long way to go," says Simon Halegoua. He's a neuroscientist at Stony Brook University in New York who did not work on the new study.
前途是光明的，但仍然还有很长的路要走，纽约石溪大学神经系统学家Simon Halegoua表示，但是他没有参与到新研究中。
Scientists already knew that mutations in another gene caused a similar birth defect: this insensitivity to pain. In their new study, Geoff Woods of the University of Cambridge in England and his colleagues identified 11 families with mutated forms of the PRDM12 gene. The gene normally instructs cells on how to make a protein that helps pain-sensing nerve cells develop. These pain-warning nerve cells, or neurons, are called nociceptors (NO-see-SEP-terz). People born with some mutations to PRDM12 lack some nociceptor neurons that carry pain signals to the brain. The new study suggests "You need PRDM12 present to grow your pain neurons," Woods says.
科学家已经知道另一个基因突变会引起类似的先天缺陷：感觉疼痛迟钝性，在他们的新研究中，英国剑桥大学的Geoff Woods和他的同事对11家家人的PRDM12基因变异形式进行了鉴定。基因通常会指引细胞产出蛋白质来帮助触痛神经细胞发育。这些预示疼痛的神经细胞，也叫神经元，被称为伤害感受器。一些天生PRDM12基因突变的人缺乏能将疼痛信号传输给大脑的伤害感受器神即经元。Woods表示"新研究证明人们需要PRDM12来助长其疼痛神经原"。
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