醫學新進展：止咳糖漿有望治療帕金森？

A drug first discovered over 50 years ago and long used as a medicine for coughs and respiratory illnesses appears to show promise in treating a very different kind of sickness: Parkinson's disease.

有一種藥50年前被發現，一直用於治療咳嗽和呼吸道疾病，現在被發現能治療一種完全不同的疾病：帕金森病。

Ambroxol, an active ingredient in cough mixtures since the 1970s, has been investigated in recent years for its apparent potential to halt the progression of Parkinson's, and already this year, the drug has passed two important milestones that may bring us closer to a much-hoped-for treatment.

20世紀70年代以來氨溴索一直是止咳藥的有效成分，近些年調查了它在抑制帕金森病發展中的潛在作用，今年已經通過了兩個重要測試階段，可能使我們朝着期待已久的治療目標更近了一步。

Last month, a multi-institutional team of researchers led by University College London (UCL) reported the results of a small Phase II clinical trial suggesting that ambroxol was safe and well-tolerated in human patients with Parkinson's disease, while hinting at possible neuroprotective effects that need to be examined further in subsequent trials.

上個月倫敦大學學院帶領的多機構研究團隊報告了小型Ⅱ期臨牀試驗結果，結果顯示對於帕金森患者來說氨溴索很安全，而且耐受性良好。同時報告中暗示了它可能有神經保護作用，還需要在以後的試驗中做進一步檢驗。

Based on these outcomes, last week funding was announced to continue the next steps in evaluating ambroxol in a much larger cohort of people with Parkinson's, while also seeking to learn more about how individual patient genotypes may contribute to the disease.

鑑於已經取得的成果，上週宣佈撥款繼續下一步工作，在更大範圍的帕金森患者中對氨溴索進行評估，同時爭取更多地瞭解個體患者基因型對這種疾病的影響。

"The ambroxol study is important because there are no treatments available for Parkinson's that slow, stop, or reverse [it]" says Simon Stott, deputy director of research at The Cure Parkinson's Trust, one of the bodies funding the research program.

The Cure Parkinson的信託基金是資助這一研究項目的機構之一，研究副主任Simon Stott說：“氨溴索的研究非常重要，因爲沒有其他治療方法能像它這樣延緩、抑制或逆轉帕金森病。”

"All of the current medications only deal with the symptoms of the condition – they do nothing to delay the progression of Parkinson's."

“目前所有藥物只是對症，但不能控制病情發展。”

翻譯：菲菲