Stem Cell Transplant Cures HIV In 'Berlin Patient'

• woohoohelloppl wrote on 2010-12-15 05:56

  On the heels of World AIDS Day comes a stunning medical breakthrough: Doctors believe an HIV-positive man who underwent a stem cell transplant has been cured as a result of the procedure.
  
  Timothy Ray Brown, also known as the "Berlin Patient," received the transplant in 2007 as part of a lengthy treatment course for leukemia. His doctors recently published a report in the journal Blood affirming that the results of extensive testing "strongly suggest that cure of HIV infection has been achieved."
  
  Brown's case paves a path for constructing a permanent cure for HIV through genetically-engineered stem cells.
  
  Last week, Time named another AIDS-related discovery to its list of the Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs of 2010. Recent studies show that healthy individuals who take antiretrovirals, medicine commonly prescribed for treating HIV, can reduce their risk of contracting the disease by up to 73 percent.
  
  While these developments by no means prove a cure for the virus has been found, they can certainly provide hope for the more than 33 million people living with HIV worldwide. Alongside such findings, global efforts to combat the epidemic have accelerated as of late, with new initiatives emerging in the Philippines and South Africa this week.

  
  
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• Intex wrote on 2010-12-15 06:07
  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/29/health/research/29zinc.html?_r=1
  This article goes more in detail about how the procedure went but it says AIDS where it should say HIV (there isn't an AIDS virus or anything).
  
  

  Quote from NY Article:

  To treat the leukemia, he received a bone marrow transplant in Berlin from a donor who, as luck would have it, was naturally immune to the AIDS virus.

  
  Apparently this wasn't really luck, the doctor specifically set out to find someone who had the delta 32 mutation and tested 80 suitable donors for it (the 61st donor had the mutation).
  
  I don't remember where I read it but apparently this procedure was very risky or something.
  Anyways I hope this really did wipe the virus and it's not just hiding in his tissue or something.
• Kazuni wrote on 2010-12-15 06:15
  HIV's just going to mutate and adapt to things like this, though.
  
  We're just getting to this kinda thing in biology.
• Andy-Buddy wrote on 2010-12-15 06:19

  Quote from Kazuni;248386:

  HIV's just going to mutate and adapt to things like this, though.
  
  We're just getting to this kinda thing in biology.

  
  
  To find a strain of HIV that can infect HIV-Immune people would be quite a feat.
• Intex wrote on 2010-12-15 06:22

  Quote from Kazuni;248386:

  HIV's just going to mutate and adapt to things like this, though.
  
  We're just getting to this kinda thing in biology.

  
  
  Yeah I think that person was only immune to a certain strain of HIV.
  I doubt they could use his stem cells on many other people.
  However I think this news is more important because it shows what stem cells are capable of.
  
  HIV isn't a fatal disease anymore as long as you have access to modern medicine.
  There are many drugs that prevent HIV patients from getting AIDS.
• TA wrote on 2010-12-15 06:22
  Wow, that's impressive!
• Kazuni wrote on 2010-12-15 06:33

  Quote from Andy-Buddy;248387:

  To find a strain of HIV that can infect HIV-Immune people would be quite a feat.

  
  
  To find HIV-immune people is also a bit of a feat.
  
  But if the mutation can be duplicated or copied to other people that'd be great, although I can't see too many people volunteering to be a test subject.
• Cucurbita wrote on 2010-12-15 06:40

  Quote from Kazuni;248399:

  To find HIV-immune people is also a bit of a feat.
  
  But if the mutation can be duplicated or copied to other people that'd be great, although I can't see too many people volunteering to be a test subject.

  
  
  Its how they treated Ebola, and thats one of the scariest diseases out there.
• Tatsu wrote on 2010-12-15 06:44

  Quote from Kazuni;248399:

  To find HIV-immune people is also a bit of a feat.
  
  But if the mutation can be duplicated or copied to other people that'd be great, although I can't see too many people volunteering to be a test subject.

  
  
  Eh? Aren't HIV-immune people typically living in Europe? Something about the Black Death causing the little survivors immunity to HIV... or something.
• Teaberry wrote on 2010-12-15 08:57

  Quote from Kazuni;248399:

  To find HIV-immune people is also a bit of a feat.
  
  But if the mutation can be duplicated or copied to other people that'd be great, although I can't see too many people volunteering to be a test subject.

  To find someone that's HIV-immune and compatible for a bone marrow transplant will pretty much be a miracle, considering the latter is hard enough as it is.
  
  Meaning: We may have found a cure, but it's almost impossible to administer to everyone that needs it.
• Zid wrote on 2010-12-16 21:05
  It's still something~ Just need to build off of that.
  
  Volunteer numbers might not be a problem for something so widely known and feared.
• Lan wrote on 2010-12-16 21:27
  1% of Caucasians have the mutation ._. hmm...human farms anyone?
  
  But in all seriousness, even if this isn't really a viable cure as bone marrow transplants have a 1/3 chance of killing you, it's a huge step.
• TA wrote on 2010-12-16 22:03
  Well, when put in that situation... a 2 in 3 chance of living is a hell of a lot better odds than a 0 in 3 chance.
• BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2010-12-16 23:26
  it's slowly progressing
• Lolicon wrote on 2010-12-17 07:19
  It'll be funny if Children's Tylenol was the cure all along.