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An inexpensive vitamin can help reduce the occurrence of common skin cancers in people prone to that disease, researchers reported on Wednesday.
周三，研究人员报道，一种便宜的维生素有助于降低常见皮肤癌高危人群中此类疾病的发生率。
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.
在临床试验中，每天服用两片烟酰胺作为营养补充剂（一种维生素B3）的人比服用安慰剂药片者发生非黑素性皮肤癌的风险低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.
该研究的负责人，澳大利亚悉尼大学(University of Sydney)的皮肤病学教授迪奥纳·达米安(Diona Damian)博士在美国临床肿瘤学会(American Society of Clinical Oncology)举办的新闻发布会上说道：“它（烟酰胺）安全，价格极其低廉，且很容易买到。”该学会称这一发现可以立即付诸实践。
“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.
达米安博士说：“该研究结果可以直接进入临床。”不过，她也指出这种维生素只能用于皮肤癌高危人群，而不适用于所有人。
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.
这项研究还在5月29日开始的芝加哥肿瘤学会年会上发表。与会的近5000项研究中的大部分研究摘要在5月13日晚些时候发布，其中的一些研究结果在该学会组织的新闻发布会上得到了讨论。
Investors and Wall Street analysts began poring over the abstracts late on Wednesday, looking for information that could affect the stocks of pharmaceutical companies.
从5月13日晚上起，投资者和华尔街分析师们就开始钻研这些文献摘要，以期从中寻找可能影响制药公司股票的信息。
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.
另一项研究报道，在现有的两种药物——雷利米得（Revlimid，即来那度胺）和地塞米松——的基础上，添加使用百时美施贵宝公司(Bristol-Myers Squibb)和艾伯维公司(AbbVie)开发的一种治疗复发性多发性骨髓瘤的实验性药物elotuzumab，可将癌症进展的风险降低约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.
在仅接受现有两种药物的患者中，中位无进展生存期（即癌症恶化或患者死亡前的时间中位数）为14.9个月，相比之下，在加用了elotuzumab的患者中，中位无进展生存期为19.4个月。
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.
百时美施贵宝公司的一位女发言人说，谈论公司将何时申请批准该药还为时过早。还有一项试验正在进行当中。
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.
皮肤癌的预防研究主要侧重于非黑素性皮肤癌，特别是基底细胞癌和鳞状细胞癌。这些都是美国最常见的癌症，据最近的研究估计，2006年，此类癌症在220万名美国患者中就达350万例。其中大部分都可以通过手术或其他技术治愈，只不过手术会留下疤痕，而且在某些情况下，癌症还会变得更加严重。
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.
本文开篇介绍的研究纳入了386名在过去5年内曾发生至少2例上述皮肤癌的澳大利亚人。参与试验的患者在过去5年平均发生过8例癌症；其中一名患者甚至多达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.
经过一定的统计学校正后，被随机分入维生素组的患者在研究的一年期间平均出现了1.77例新发癌症，较之安慰剂组的2.42例风险降低了23%。服用烟酰胺的患者中光化性角化病、有癌变风险的皮肤胼胝病例也较少。
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.
达米安博士表示，一旦停止服用该维生素，它的效果似乎就会消失。她还说，烟酰胺不像另一种维生素B3——烟酸那样有头痛和潮红等副作用。
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.
防晒是预防非黑素性皮肤癌的最有效方式。也可以使用与维生素A有关的维甲酸类药物，但它们可能导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体类抗炎药也有预防作用。
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.
两位没有参与这项研究的专家——美国亚利桑那大学(University of Arizona)皮肤癌研究所(Skin Cancer Institute)的临床主任克拉拉·库列尔-莱万多夫斯基(Clara Curiel-Lewandrowski)博士和药理学家史蒂文·斯特拉顿(Steven Stratton)都表示，这些结果“很有趣，且可能有重大意义”，部分原因是烟酰胺的副作用比皮肤癌防治的替代药物要少。
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.
他们在一封联名电子邮件中写道，无论如何，在服用该种维生素前，患者仍应该与自己的医生商量。
