Breakthroughs of the Year, 1996
Breakthroughs of the Year, 1996
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1996 年年度突破
DOI：
10.1126/science.274.5295.1987
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发表时间：
1996
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
F. Bloom
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
F. Bloom
沃尔特·司各特爵士（1771-1832）：“......当恐惧中出现希望时，它是最明亮的。人们公开承认，科学发现的机会是在先前的发现和方法的基础上出现的。当发现过程不仅导致重大的新事实，而且有助于将看似不同但神秘相关的发现联系在一起，并为战胜全球瘟疫的新方法打开大门时，科学和社会都感到敬畏。今年，当我们回顾我们的页面和其他人的页面中报道的众多非凡结果时，一系列的进步提供了神秘和药物之间的关键门户，使我们将它们指定为我们的年度突破。排在首位的是那些为人类免疫缺陷病毒（艾滋病毒）感染者带来希望的人。《科学》杂志在年终表彰科学研究中最重要的发展，就其对科学进步和社会的影响而言，最初被称为年度分子[Science 246，1541（1989）]。然而，尽管今年在理解艾滋病毒疾病方面取得的某些进展的基础无疑是分子的，但它所包含的远远不止一个分子信号或过程。科学认为，重要的是要认识到那些在罕见的情况下可以在科学实践或解释或其对社会的影响中提供足够变化的发现，它们应该被视为突破。继一系列广受赞誉的治疗艾滋病毒感染的新药物组合疗法之后，在理解艾滋病毒感染性生物学和称为趋化因子的趋化因子方面的若干新进展是最高级别的突破。趋化因子受体是HIV感染携带CD 4细胞所需的关键共受体。趋化因子及其受体的功能为设计HIV发病机制的动物模型和评估新的药物和疫苗提供了新的方法。目前可用的疗法，基于对病毒复制至关重要的酶的抑制剂，已经大大改善了许多患者的前景。但是还没有大规模的临床试验已经完成了昂贵的新药物组合，他们远远没有普遍可用。目前尚不清楚这些药物是否能从受感染的细胞中根除病毒，特别是大脑中的细胞。基于对趋化因子受体在协助HIV基于CD 4进入宿主细胞中所起作用的认识，未来的药物可能足以成功实现这些目标;疫苗开发人员已经注意到，趋化因子受体突变的个体可能对HIV感染具有天然抵抗力。在本期中，Michael Balter在1988页上的文章和由副新闻编辑Elizabeth Culotta协调的特别部分（在新闻和编辑人员的帮助下）不仅突出了为当前和未来的艾滋病受害者提供希望的进展，而且还有一系列其他科学突破。我们考虑了几条关于生命起源的新信息，在我们的星球和宇宙的其他地方，包括火星上古代生命的可能性的更新。其他亚军突破的范围从地球的内核到塑造发育胚胎或决定细胞生存或死亡的微妙信号。这种突破性研究的本质是一种一致的模式，在这种模式中，多个个体的努力合并成一个更全面的信息体，从中可以产生新的见解，更好的实验，并最终为科学和社会带来有用的进步。无论科学家们多么有灵感，他们为知识库做出贡献的能力都需要资金，在这份年终调查中，我们研究了世界各地的情况如何变化。最后，我们凝视着水晶球，看看1997年会有什么热点，并给自己一张记分卡，看看我们去年在预测1996年的重要发现方面做得有多好。由于《科学在线》（http：//www.sciencemag.org/）的不断改进，《年度突破》部分的全文在线介绍可以作为我们对这些非常重要的研究项目的报道以及其他《科学》论文和新闻报道以及选定的在线资源的直接电子链接。《科学》杂志期待在新的一年里以印刷版和在线版的形式向所有读者致以问候。你报名了吗？
Sir Walter Scott, 1771-1832: “… And hope is brightest when it dawns from fears.” The opportunity to make scientific discoveries is openly acknowledged to emerge from a foundation of prior discoveries and methods. When the discovery process leads not only to major new facts but serves to tie together seemingly disparate, but mysteriously related, findings and also opens the door for new ways to defeat a worldwide plague, both science and society stand in awe. This year, as we looked back at the numerous extraordinary results reported in our pages and others', a series of advances providing just such critical gateways between mystery and medication led us to designate them as our breakthroughs of the year. Topping the list are those that promise hope for people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The year-end recognition by Science of the most significant developments in scientific research, in terms of their consequences for the advancement of science and for society, was originally termed the Molecule of the Year [Science 246, 1541 (1989)]. However, although the foundation of this year's selected advances in the understanding of HIV disease is unquestionably molecular, it encompasses much more than a single molecular signal or process. Science holds the view that it is important to recognize those groups of discoveries that on rare occasions can provide sufficient change in the practice or interpretation of science or in its implications for society that they deserve to be viewed as breakthroughs. Coming on the heels of a series of widely acclaimed new drug-combination regimens for treatment of HIV infection, the several new advances in the understanding of the biology of HIV infectivity and of the chemoattractant cytokines known as chemokines are breakthroughs of the highest order. Chemokine receptors are critical co-receptors required for HIV infection of CD4-bearing cells. The functions of chemokines and their receptors provide new ways to devise animal models for HIV pathogenesis and to evaluate new medications and vaccines. The currently available therapies, based on inhibitors of enzymes essential for viral replication, have dramatically improved the outlook for many patients. But no large-scale clinical trials have yet been completed with the costly new drug combinations, and they are far from generally available. Still unknown is whether any of these drugs can eradicate the virus from infected cells, especially those in the brain. Future medications based on knowledge of the role played by chemokine receptors in assisting HIV's CD4-based entry into host cells may be powerful enough to succeed in these objectives; vaccine developers have been alerted that individuals with mutations in their chemokine receptors may have natural resistance to HIV infection. In this issue, the article on page 1988 by Michael Balter and the special section coordinated by Deputy News Editor Elizabeth Culotta (with the help of the News and Editorial staffs) highlight not only the advances that provide hope to current and future casualties of HIV disease, but a series of other scientific breakthroughs as well. We consider several threads of new information concerning the origins of life itself, on our planet and elsewhere in the universe, including updates on the possibility of ancient life on Mars. Other runner-up breakthroughs range from the Earth's inner core to the subtle signals that shape a developing embryo or determine whether a cell lives or dies. Exemplifying the nature of such breakthrough research is a consistent pattern in which multiple individual efforts merge into a more comprehensive body of information from which may be spun new insights, better experiments, and, eventually, useful advances for science and society. No matter how inspired scientists are, their ability to contribute to the pool of knowledge requires funding, and in this year-end survey we examine how the picture varies worldwide. We conclude by gazing into our crystal ball to see what will be hot in 1997 and give ourselves a scorecard on how well we did last year in predicting the important discoveries of 1996. Because of continued refinements of Science Online (at http://www.sciencemag.org/), the full-length online presentation of the Breakthrough of the Year section can serve as a direct electronic link to our coverage of these very important research items, as well as to other Science papers and news stories and selected online resources. Science looks forward to greeting all of its continuing readers in print and online in the New Year. Have you signed up yet?