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  3. A widely heralded but still experimental cancer-fighting compound may be used someday to prevent two other major killers of Amer

A widely heralded but still experimental cancer-fighting compound may be used someday to prevent two other major killers of Amer

admin2011-01-08  64
问题     A widely heralded but still experimental cancer-fighting compound may be used someday to prevent two other major killers of Americans: heart disease and stroke. That was the implication of a remarkable report published last week in the journal Circulation by a team of researchers from Dr. Judah Folkman’s laboratory at the Children’s Hospital in Boston.
    The versatile compound is endostatin, a human protein that inhibits angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels in the body. In tests reported in 1997 by Folkman, a prominent cancer researcher who pioneered the study of angiogenesis, the drug had reduced and even eradicated tumors in laboratory mice. How? By stunting the growth of capillaries necessary for nourishing the burgeoning mouse tumors.
    When news of Folkman’s achievement became widely known last year, it led to wildly exaggerated predictions of imminent cancer cures. When other scientists were initially unable to duplicate those results, question arose about the validity of folkman’s research. Then in February scientists at the National Cancer Institute, with guidance from Folkman, finally matched his results, reassured, the N.C.I. gave the go-ahead for clinical trials of endostation later this year on patients with advanced tumors.
    How can a drug that is apparently effective against tumors also reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke? The answer lies in the composition of plaque, the fatty deposit that builds up in arteries and can eventually clog them. Plaque consists of a mix of cholesterol, white blood cells and smooth muscle cells, and as it accumulates, a network of capillaries sprouts from the artery walls to nourish the cell. Could endostatin halt the growth of capillaries and starve the plaque?
    A Folkman lab team led by Dr. Karen Moulton decided to find out. The scientists put baby lab mice on a 16-week "western diet" that was high in fat and cholesterol, then measured the plaque buildup on the walls of each aorta, the large artery that carries blood from the heart to the rest of the body. Meanwhile, they inject one group of mice with endostatin, another with a different blood-vessel inhibitor call TNP-470and a control group with an inert saline solution. Twenty weeks later the researchers again measured plague in the mouse aortas. The results were startling: the endostatin group averaged 85% less plaque buildup and the TNP-470 group 70% less than those in the control group.
    All too aware of the premature hopes raised last year after Folkman’s tumor report, the researchers have been careful not to oversell the new results. "If this finding is supported in future studies," says Moulton, "(it could open the way for) treatments that could delay the progression of heart disease and possible reduce the incidence of heart attacks and strokes." But any such treatments, she stresses, are probably five to ten years away.
What does the word "capillaries" in paragraph 2 mean?
选项 A、One of the minute blood vessels that connect arterioles.
B、One of the main blood vessels that connect venules.
C、One of the main blood vessels that connect arterioles.
D、One of the minute blood vessels that connect arterioles and venules.
答案D
解析 该题属于主旨理解题。作者在文章中使用了一些与心脏、血管等有关的专业词语，该处就是其中一个。By stunting the growth of capillaries necessary for nourishing the burgeoning mouse tumors. 作者在该段讲到研究人员通过在试验的mouse(鼠)身上注射一种药物，通过抑制血管扩张，把为鼠提供营养的血管抑制住，肿瘤就会得以延缓或停止生长。此处的capillaries就是人们平常所说自的minute blood vessels。因此选项D应为正确答案。
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