There's a long-known relationship between cancer and sugar, but figuring out exactly how it works has proven elusive¹ . Now, thanks to a nine-year research project, scientists have made a breakthrough.

甜食和癌症之间的关联性早已为人所知，但它发挥作用的机制却一直破朔迷离。幸而现在科学家们通过一项历时九年的研究，做出了突破性的进展。

They've narrowed down the mechanism² whereby cancer cells metabolise sugar.

对癌症细胞如何代谢糖分这一谜题，研究者甄选出了一些可能性。

The focus of the new research was on a metabolic³ effect that has been understood for over 90 years.

这项新研究的着重点是癌症细胞的代谢功能，尽管人们知晓这种代谢功能已经90年了。

We know that almost all the cells in the human body require energy, and they derive⁴ this energy from the sugars in the food we eat. Cancer cells also require sugars to grow. But their glucose⁵ intake⁶ is a lot higher than that of healthy cells, as is the rate at which they ferment⁷ that glucose into lactic⁸ acid.

我们知道几乎所有的人体细胞都需要能量，它们通过我们吃的食物中的糖分获取能量。癌症细胞生长也需要糖分，但是它们摄取葡萄糖的分量明显多于健康细胞，它们将糖分转化成乳酸的速率也明显高于后者。

This is known as the Warburg effect, and it may, scientists have hypothesised, have something to do with cancer's rapid growth rate. But it's hard to determine whether the Warburg effect is a symptom or a cause of cancer.

这一现象被称为“瓦博格效应”，科学家们猜测，其原意或许与癌症细胞生长速度特别快有关。但科学家们很难断定，“瓦博格效应”是癌症的一种症状还是诱发原因。

It's been proposed that the growth of cancer cells may be stymied⁹ by starving them of sugar, but the problem with that is there's currently no method of cutting off the supply to cancer cells while keeping it open to normal cells.

曾有科学家提出建议，通过阻止癌症细胞摄取糖分来抑制他们的生长，但问题是目前还没有办法一方面切断对癌症细胞的糖分供给，另一方面保证对健康细胞的供给畅通。

This is why the biological mechanism behind the increased glucose metabolism¹⁰ is important. It may hold the key to starving cancer cells while keeping healthy cells functioning. We're not there yet, but this research brings us a critical step closer.

这也就是为什么研究癌症细胞加速的糖分代谢这一生物机制非常重要。这或许是找到抑制癌症细胞生长同时维持正常细胞运作的方法的关键。我们还没有找到最终解答，但这项研究让我们走出了重要的一步。

"Our research reveals how the hyperactive sugar consumption of cancerous cells leads to a vicious cycle of continued stimulation¹¹ of cancer development and growth," said researcher Johan Thevelein in Belgium.

来自比利时的研究人员Johan Thevelein称，“我们的研究发现，癌症细胞对糖分的超量摄取会刺激癌症的发展和生长，从而形成了一种恶性循环。”

"Thus, it is able to explain the correlation¹² between the strength of the Warburg effect and tumour¹³ aggressiveness. This link between sugar and cancer has sweeping¹⁴ consequences. Our results provide a foundation for future research in this domain¹⁵, which can now be performed with a much more precise and relevant focus."

“因此，我们找到了瓦博格效应与癌症的攻击性之间的关联。糖分和癌症之间的关系有着深远的影响。我们的研究成果为将来这一领域的研究提供了平台，今后的研究将具备更高的准确度，也更能分清主次。”

The team used yeast¹⁶ cells for its research – specifically looking at the 'Ras' gene family, a family of genes¹⁷ that is present in all animal cells, including human cancer cells. This makes the study of Ras mutations in yeast an increasingly useful tool in cancer research.

这支团队在研究中使用的是酵母细胞——特别采用了ras基因家族的细胞，这个基因家族存在于所有动物细胞中，特别是人类的癌症细胞。对酵母细胞中Ras变异的研究将越来越成为癌症研究的有力武器。

Yeast also has highly active sugar metabolism, yet doesn't have the additional regulatory processes of mammalian cells that can conceal¹⁸ underlying¹⁹ processes.

酵母细胞还具有高活性的糖分代谢功能，同时又不像哺乳动物细胞那样表现出附加的规范机制，这种规范机制会隐藏糖分代谢的过程。

The researchers found that the yeast that had an overactive influx²⁰ of glucose caused the Ras proteins to activate²¹ too much, which would then allow the cells to grow at an accelerated rate.

研究者发现，过度摄入葡萄糖的酵母细胞会使Ras蛋白质过于兴奋，从而导致细胞加速生长。

"The findings are not sufficient to identify the primary cause of the Warburg effect," the researchers added. "Further research is needed to find out whether this primary cause is also conserved²² in yeast cells."

“这项研究还不足以证明‘瓦博格效应’”的主因”，研究者们还补充说，“是否能在酵母细胞中找到瓦博格效应的主因，这还需要进一步的研究。”