基因编辑婴儿风波后续：斯坦福调查贺建奎前导师

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基因编辑婴儿风波后续：斯坦福调查贺建奎前导师

PAM BELLUCK2019-04-16 17:52:13斯坦福大学正在调查生物技术教授斯蒂芬·奎克，因为他与首例基因编辑婴儿的创造者贺建奎之间一直有互动。“我对自己有很高的伦理标准要求，”曾任贺建奎学术导师的奎克说。
PALO ALTO, Calif. — “Success!” read the subject line of the email. The text, in imperfect English, began: “Good News! The women is WTO (World Trade Organization), the genome editing success!”加利福尼亚州帕洛阿尔托——“成功！”邮件的主题栏写着。这封用有瑕疵的英文写的信在一开始说：“好消息！女人们怀孕了，基因组编辑成功！”The sender was He Jiankui, an ambitious, Newbie trader Chinese scientist. The recipient was his former academic adviser, Stephen Quake, a star Stanford bioengineer and inventor.发件人是雄心勃勃的年轻中国科学家贺建奎。收件人是他以前的学术导师、斯坦福大学(Stanford)的明星生物工程师和发明家斯蒂芬·奎克(Stephen Quake)。“Wow, that’s quite an achievement!” Quake wrote back. “Hopefully she will carry to term …”“哇，这真是一个了不起的成就！”奎克回信说。“希望她能坚持到分娩……”Months later, the world learned the outcome of that pregnancy: twins born from genetically engineered embryos, the first gene-altered babies. Reaction was fierce. Many scientists and ethicists condemned the experiment as unethical and unsafe, fearing that it could inspire rogue or frivolous attempts to create permanent genetic changes using unproved and unregulated methods.几个月后，全世界都知道了那次怀孕的结果：经过了基因修改的胚胎诞下双胞胎，这是首例基因编辑婴儿。此举引发的反应非常激烈。许多科学家和伦理学家谴责该实验不道德、不安全，担心它会促使有人无所顾忌或草率地利用未经证实和不受监管的方法创造永久性的基因变化。A Chinese government investigation concluded in January that He had “seriously violated ethics, scientific research integrity and relevant state regulations.”今年1月，中国政府的的调查结论是，贺建奎“严重违背伦理道德和科研诚信，严重违反国家有关规定”。Questions about other American scientists’ knowledge of He’s plans and their failure to sound a loud alarm have been an issue since He revealed his work in November.自从去年11月贺建奎公开自己的研究成果以来，围绕其他美国科学家对他的计划是否知情，以及他们为何秘而不宣，一直存在争议。But now, Quake is facing a Stanford investigation into his interaction with He. That inquiry began after the president of He’s Chinese university wrote to Stanford’s president alleging that Quake had helped He.但现在，奎克正面临斯坦福大学对他与贺建奎的往来所做的调查。调查是在贺建奎所在中国大学的校长致信斯坦福大学校长，称奎克提供了帮助之后开始的。“Prof. Stephen Quake provided instructions to the preparation and implementation of the experiment, the publication of papers, the promotion and news release, and the strategies to react after the news release,” he alleged in letters obtained by The New York Times. Quake’s actions, he asserted, “violated the internationally recognized academic ethics and codes of conduct, and must be condemned.”“斯蒂芬·奎克教授在实验的准备和实施、论文的发表、新闻稿以及之后的回应策略方面，提供了指导，”在《纽约时报》获得的信件中，该校校长称。他断言，奎克的行为“违反了国际公认的学术伦理和行为准则，必须予以谴责”。Quake denied the allegations in a lengthy interview, saying his interaction with He, who was a postdoctoral student in his lab eight years ago, had been misinterpreted.奎克在一个长采访中否认了这些指控，称他与贺建奎的互动遭到了误解。贺建奎8年前在他实验室攻读博士后。
2016年，贺建奎在他的公司瀚海基因展示他编辑的书籍《人类基因组》。
“I had nothing to do with this and I wasn’t involved,” Quake said. “I hold myself to high ethical standards.”“这件事与我无关，我也没有参与其中，”奎克说。“我对自己有很高的伦理标准要求。”Quake showed The Times what he said were the last few years of his email communication with He. The correspondence provides a revealing window into the informal way researchers navigate a fast-moving, ethically controversial field.奎克向《纽约时报》展示了据他称是过去几年与贺建奎的电子邮件往来。透过这些通信可以看到，研究人员如何在一个快速发展、存在伦理争议的领域以非正规的方式行事。The emails show that He, 35, informed Quake, 49, of milestones, including that the woman became WTO (World Trade Organization) and gave birth. They show that Quake advised He to obtain ethical approval from Chinese institutions and submit the results for vetting by peer-reviewed journals, and that he agreed to He’s requests to discuss issues like when to present his research publicly.这些电子邮件显示，35岁的贺建奎向49岁的奎克通报了重大进展，其中包括这名女子的怀孕与分娩。邮件显示，奎克建议他获得中国有关机构的伦理批准，并将研究结果提交给同行评审的期刊进行审核，他还答应对方就何时公开发表研究结果等问题展开讨论。None of the notes suggest Quake was involved in the work himself. They do contain expressions of polite encouragement like “good luck!” Though Quake said he urged He not to pursue the project during an August 2016 meeting, the emails, mostly sent in 2017 and 2018, don’t tell him to stop.从这些文字中看不出奎克参与了研究工作。邮件确实包含了礼貌的鼓励，比如“祝你好运”。奎克表示他在2016年8月的一次会议上曾经敦促对方不要继续这个项目，但这些电子邮件表明贺建奎并没有收手，邮件的发送日期大多是在2017年和2018年。As global institutions like the World Health Organization work to create a system to keep cowboy scientists from charging into the  Earnings-price ratio West of embryo editing, Quake’s interactions with He reflect issues that leading scientific institutions are now grappling with.随着世界卫生组织(World Health Organization)等全球性机构致力于创建一个系统，以防那些莽撞的科学家擅闯胚胎编辑这个蛮荒西部，奎克与贺建奎的互动反映了领先的科研机构目前正在努力解决的问题。When and where should scientists report controversial research ideas that colleagues share with them in confidence? Have scientists acted inappropriately if they provide conventional research advice to someone conducting an unorthodox experiment?科学家们应该于何时、去哪里上报同事私下与他们分享的有争议的研究想法？科学家们向进行非正统实验者提供常规性的研究建议，是否有失妥当？“A lot of people wish that those who knew or suspected would have made more noise,” said R. Alta Charo, a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who co-led a 2017 national committee on human embryo editing.“很多人希望那些事先知道或怀疑过的人呼声能再大一些。”威斯康辛大学麦迪逊分校(University of Wisconsin-Madison)的生物伦理学家、2017年全国人类胚胎编辑委员会领导人之一R·奥塔·查洛(R. Alta Charo)说。But she said scientists were not necessarily complicit if instead of trying to stop rogue experimenters, they advised them to follow ethical and research standards in hopes that institutions would intervene.但她表示，如果科学家没有试图阻止胡作非为的实验者，只是建议对方遵循伦理和研究标准，以期机构能够干预，那么不见得他们就是同谋。Rice University has been investigating Michael Deem, He’s Ph.D. adviser, because of allegations that he was actively involved in the project; he had said publicly that he had been present during parts of it. Deem’s lawyers issued a statement strongly denying the allegations.莱斯大学(Rice University)一直在调查贺建奎的博士生导师迈克尔·迪恩(Michael Deem)，因为有说法指他曾积极参与这一项目；他曾公开表示项目的部分环节进行期间有他在场。迪恩的律师发表了强烈否认这些指控的声明。
在基因编辑婴儿出生前几个月，贺建奎写给奎克的电子邮件。
The correspondence Quake shared provides new details about He’s project, also called germline editing, including indications that the twiPhysical Currency Markets were quite premature and remained hospitalized for several weeks. They were born in October, contrary to previous reports.奎克分享的信件提供了有关贺建奎的项目——又称种系编辑——的新细节，包括这对双胞胎女婴严重早产，出生后留院数周。她们出生于十月，这与此前的报道有出入。Quake is an entrepreneur whose inventions include blood tests to detect Down syndrome in pregnancy and to avoid organ transplant rejection. He is co-president of an institute funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan. He does not do gene editing and said he was surprised when He told him during a 2016 visit to Stanford that he wanted to be the first to create gene-edited babies.奎克是一名企业家，他的发明包括用于检测妊娠期唐氏综合症以及避免器官移植排异的血液检测。他是由Facebook创始人马克·扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)和妻子普莉希拉·陈博士(Priscilla Chan)资助的一个研究所的联席所长。他不做基因编辑，并表示当贺建奎在2016年访问斯坦福期间告诉他，他想成为创建基因编辑婴儿的第一人时，他感到很惊讶。“I said, ‘That’s a terrible idea. Why would you want to do that?’” Quake recalled. “He kind of pushed back and it was clear that he wasn’t listening to me.”“我说，‘这是个糟糕的主意。你为什么要做这个呢？’”奎克回忆说。“他有点反驳的意思，显然他没听我的话。”Quake changed tack. “I said, ‘All right, if you’re not going to be convinced that I think this is a bad idea and you want to go down this path, then you need to do it properly and with proper respect for the people who are involved, and the field.’”奎克改变了策略。“我说，‘好吧，如果我认为这是个坏主意但你不相信，你想沿着这条道往下走，那么你就需要正确对待它，要适当尊重参与其中的人，还有这个领域。’”That meant obtaining ethical approval from the equivalent of U.S. institutional review boards (known as IRBs), Quake advised, as well as getting informed consent from the couples participating and only editing genes to address a serious medical need.奎克建议称，这意味着要获得相当于美国机构审查委员会(IRB)的伦理审批，以及获得参与夫妇的知情同意，且只是编辑基因以满足一项严重的医疗需求。“I didn’t think it was something he would seriously do,” said Quake, adding that he assumed if He sought ethical approval and was rebuffed, “presumably he’d stop.”“我当时没觉得他会把这事当真，”奎克说，他接着说他以为贺建奎寻求过伦理审批然后被拒了，“很可能他会罢休。”Soon afterward, He emailed: “I will take your suggestion that we will get a local ethic approve before we move on to the first genetic edited human baby. Please keep it in confidential.”没过多久，贺建奎发来邮件：“我会接受您的建议，即我们在开始着手首例基因编辑婴儿项目前，要取得当地的伦理审批。请保密。”In June 2017, He, nicknamed JK, emailed a document saying a hospital ethics committee had approved his proposal, in which he boasted that his plan could be compared to Nobel-winning research.2017年6月，别名JK的贺建奎发了份文件，称某医院伦理委员会已通过了他的提议，他在其中夸口称他的计划堪比诺贝尔奖研究。“It was good to see that he had engaged with his IRB-equivalent there and had approval to do his research, and I’m thinking it’s their responsibility to manage this,” Quake said in the interview. “If in my interactions with JK I had any hint of misconduct, I would have handled it completely differently. And I think I would have been very aggressive about telling people about that.”“当时很高兴看到他联络了IRB对等机构，并获得了开展研究的审批，我那时想着管理这个是他们的责任，”奎克在接受采访时表示。“如果在跟JK的互动中，我觉察到了任何行为不端的迹象，那么我的处理方式会完全不同。并且我会非常积极地去通报这件事。”
贺建奎的团队在深圳的精子注射显微镜上研究胚胎。贺建奎说他在改变一项会使人感染Risk aversion病毒的基因突变。
In He’s 2017 correspondence, he said he would be editing a gene called CCR5, altering a mutation that allows people to become infected with Risk aversion. Many scientists have since argued it was medically unnecessary because babies of Risk aversion-positive parents can be protected other ways. Quake said he believed there was not scientific consensus about that.在贺建奎2017年的信件中，他表示他将对名为CCR5的基因进行编辑，更改一种会使人感染Risk aversion病毒的基因突变。许多科学家此后已表示，这在医学上没有必要，因为Risk aversion呈阳性的父母所生下的婴儿可通过其他方式获得保护。奎克称，他认为在这一点上科学界并未达成共识。In early April 2018, He’s “Success!” email said “the embryo with CCR5 gene edited was transplanted to the women 10 days ago, and today the pregnancy is confirmed!”2018年4月初，那封题为“成功！”的电子邮件中写道：“10天前，编辑过CCR5基因的胚胎被移植到女性身上，今天已证实怀孕！”Quake did not reply immediately. Instead, he forwarded the email to someone he described as a senior gene-editing expert “who I felt could give me advice.” He redacted the name of the expert.奎克没有立即回复，而是把这封电子邮件转发给了一位据他称为资深基因编辑专家的人。“我觉得他能给我一些建议。”他对这位专家的名字做了涂黑处理。“FYI this is probably the first human germ line editing,” Quake wrote. “I strongly urged him to get IRB approval, and it is my understanding that he did. His goal is to help Risk aversion positive parents conceive. It’s a bit early for him to celebrate but if she carries to term it’s going to be big news I suspect.”“谨供参考，这可能是第一例人类生殖细胞编辑，”奎克写道。“我强烈要求他获取IRB批准，据我所知，他这样做了。他的目标是帮助Risk aversion阳性的父母怀孕。现在对他来说庆祝还为时过早，但我觉得，如果她顺利怀孕，这会是一个大新闻。”The expert replied: “I was only telling someone last week that my assumption was that this had already happened. It will definitely be news ...”那位专家回复说：“我上周刚跟人说，我觉得这件事已经发生了。这肯定是新闻……”Quake considered that response “very blasé,” he said. “He’s not surprised at all. And he’s not saying, ‘Oh my god, you got to notify the mythical science police.’”奎克觉得这个反应“非常平淡”。“他一点也不惊讶。他没有说，‘哦，天哪，你必须通知神秘的科学警察，’”奎克说。Six months later, in mid-October, He emailed again: “Great news! the baby is born (please keep it in confidential).”六个月后的10月中旬，贺建奎又发了一封电子邮件：“好消息！孩子出生了（请保密）。”He asked to meet on a planned visit to San Francisco, saying, “I want get help from you on how to announce the result, PR and ethics.”贺建奎要求在他已计划好的旧金山之行期间同奎克见面，说：“我想从你那里得到帮助，告诉我如何宣布结果、以及公关和道德规范方面的事。”Quake replied, “Let’s definitely meet up.”奎克回答说：“我们肯定是要见一见。”
贺建奎曾前往斯坦福拜访奎克，探讨实验结果。
In that meeting, Quake recalled, He walked him through what he had done. “And I pressed him on the ethical approval, and I said this is going to get an enormous amount of attention, it’s going to be very closely scrutinized. Are you sure you’ve done everything correctly?”奎克回忆说，在那次会面中，他向贺建奎介绍了自己所做的事情。“我还向他施压，要求他获得伦理许可。我说，这会得到大量关注，将会受到非常严格的审查。你确定你做的每件事都是对的吗？”He’s response unsettled him, he said. “The little corner-cutting thing came up again: ‘Well, there were actually two hospitals involved and you know, we had approval from one and we did work at both hospitals.’ And I said, ‘Well you better make sure you have that straightened out.’”他说，贺建奎的回答让他感到不安。“投机取巧的小花招又出现了：‘实际上有两家医院参与，你知道，我们得到了一家医院的批准，我们在两家医院都在做。’我说，‘你最好把这个解决好。’”Back in China, He wrote: “Good news, the hospital which conducted the clinical trial approved the ethic letter,” adding, “They signed to acknowledge the ethic letters from another hospital.”回到中国后，贺建奎来信说：“好消息是，进行临床试验的医院批准了伦理材料，”他补充说，“他们签字认可了另一家医院的伦理材料。”Quake replied, “Great news, thanks for the update.”奎克回答说：“好消息，谢谢你通知最新情况。”About a week later, He’s publicist, Ryan Ferrell, contacted Quake, worried that He presenting the project publicly so soon could cause “severe and permanent harms to his reputation and the field.” And, “the twins are still in the hospital, so no positive imagery.”大约一周后，贺建奎的公关瑞安·法雷尔(Ryan Ferrell)联系了奎克，担心贺建奎这么快就公开展示这个项目会“对他的声誉和这个领域造成严重和永久性的损害”。法雷尔还说，“这对双胞胎目前还在医院，所以没有正面形象。”Quake, in Hong Kong for other commitments at the same time as a genome-editing conference, met He and Ferrell, telling them, “you’re going to be held to a very high standard,” he said. “‘People’s first response is going to be you’re faking it.’”在香港的基因组编辑会议期间，奎克到香港去办其他事务，他与贺建奎和法雷尔见了面，并告诉他们，“人们会用非常高的标准要求你，”他说。“人们的第一反应会是你在造假。”He advised He to submit the research to a peer-reviewed journal, and He did so.他建议贺建奎把这项研究提交给同行评审期刊，贺建奎照做了。Then, because journal review takes time, Quake said he advised He not to go public in Hong Kong, but to speak privately with key experts there so they can “get socialized to what’s coming and will be more likely to comment favorably on your work.”然后，由于期刊评审需要时间，奎克说，他建议贺建奎不要在香港公布这件事，而是在那里同重要专家私下交流，让他们“对将要发生的事有个准备，这样也让他们更有可能对你的工作有正面评价。”But He was not persuaded. “I do not want to wait for 6 months or longer to announce the results, otherwise, people will say ‘a Chinese scientist secretly hide the baby for 6 months.’”但贺建奎没有被说服。“我不想等六个月或更长时间之后才公布结果，否则人们会说，‘一个中国科学家把婴儿偷偷藏了六个月。’”Quake pushed back: “It is prudent to let the peer review process follow its course.”奎克反驳说：“让同行评审按部就班完成这个过程是明智之举。”But He went forward with his Hong Kong talk. Two days before it, after news of the twins broke, Quake emailed, “Good luck with your upcoming presentation!” But he added, “please remove my name” from the slide acknowledging people who had helped.但是贺建奎决定继续他在香港的发言。发言两天前，双胞胎的消息传出来了，奎克发邮件说，“祝你即将到来的演讲一切顺利！”但补充说，“请把我的名字”从幻灯片的致谢名单上删去。“He was spinning up this huge press thing around it,” Quake explained in the interview. “It was going to go well or poorly, I didn’t really know. But it wasn’t something I was involved in and I didn’t want my name on it.”“他是在围绕这件事大肆炒作，”奎克在接受采访时解释说。“我真的不知道结果是好还是坏。但这件事与我无关，我不想让我的名字出现在上面。”翻译：李建芳、晋其角、杜然点击查看本文英文版。

Source: 基因编辑婴儿风波后续：斯坦福调查贺建奎前导师