Man appears free of HIV after stem cell transplant
 

A 42-year-old HIV patient with leukemia appears to have no detectable HIV in his blood and no symptoms after a stem cell transplant from a donor carrying a gene mutation that confers natural resistance to the virus that causes AIDS, according to a report published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The patient underwent a stem cell transplant and since, has not tested positive for HIV in his blood. The patient underwent a stem cell transplant and since, has not tested positive for HIV in his blood.

"The patient is fine," said Dr. Gero Hutter of Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin in Germany. "Today, two years after his transplantation, he is still without any signs of HIV disease and without antiretroviral medication."

The case was first reported in November, and the new report is the first official publication of the case in a medical journal. Hutter and a team of medical professionals performed the stem cell transplant on the patient, an American living in Germany, to treat the man's leukemia, not the HIV itself.

However, the team deliberately chose a compatible donor who has a naturally occurring gene mutation that confers resistance to HIV. The mutation cripples a receptor known as CCR5, which is normally found on the surface of T cells, the type of immune system cells attacked by HIV.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/11...ell/index.html

Hmmm... I'm skeptical about the HIV + "opportunistic" illness = AIDS concept because I'm a conspiracy theorist and I think the drug companies/government are making us sick to keep money pouring into the pockets of certain people.

However, I'm absolutely intrigued at the possibility of eradicating viruses in general through the use of stem cells from people who are immune to various things. That would be AMAZING!

wooooow

Until some Frenchman screws a monkey and introduces "super-AIDS" to the population.

I got to this part, then died.

I don't know what you mean by that. AIDS patients clearly get infections with pathogens that people with normal immune systems do not, including HIV patients with normal T cell levels. Trust me, I've seen a lot of these patients. There is very CLEAR science behind this.

IMHO, the only reason why this interesting is that the data was published in NEJM. It is not often they publish junk these days... Apparently, the receptor CCR5 delta32 was from a homozygous donor. So the HIV infected man was the recipient of that homozygous donor (a 1:3 chance that would ever happen).

However, the HIV infected recipient ALSO has another form of HIV called X4. It is unknown what will happen.

What is interesting is that all the WBC's from the donor repopulated a HIV recipient. It is possible, but not proven until the work was actually done, then it is unknown about the prognosis.

Dr. Levy at UCSF says this will NOT be a normal treatment in the US... Too many questions and I wouldn't want to write that human subject's IRB... But that'll be me...

Yay, Science!

Like pneumonia which, by itself, is not AIDS? I don't believe a lot of the "facts" that are permitted to be spread by the media. I'm not a scientist, so I don't necessarily understand all the science behind AIDS research, but that's not what I'm talking about anyway.

What do you mean "until"? :p

Pneumonia in and of itself is NOT AIDS defining. Pneumonia with fungal types not seen in immunocompetent patients certainly is AIDS defining if the patient already has HIV status. Without a compromised immune system, every human can fight off these pathogens. I don't understand all these conspiracy theories involving medicine. We really do want people to get better, we really don't just prescribe drugs to get the free pens and we don't make up diseases just to keep pharmaceutical companies in business.

Do you happen to know if there's been a study done to test the incidence of fungal pneumonia in non-HIV-positive patients vs. HIV-postitive patients who are not being treated for HIV/AIDS vs. HIV-positive patients who are being treated for HIV/AIDS? I'd be interested in those results.

Anyway, I am VERY skeptical of western medicine though my life has been saved more than once by modern medical advances. I do my best to stay away from doctors and medicine.

Yes...they have studied all of this! Deaths from AIDS are actually due to these infections and opportunistic cancers, not due to the virus itself. Treatment for HIV has actually been a huge success. Being diagnosed is no longer a death sentence. Medications are much better and less likely to cause major side effects like pancreatitis. People with HIV now are treated like patients with chronic disease, not patients who are terminal.

As for staying away from doctors and medicine, a dose of preventative medicine goes a long way!

This is true, yet very unfortunate. I work for a Ryan White CARE Act funded organization and I can say that people ARE still dying of AIDS out here. :(

well you know what they say: "There is more money in the bandage than there is in the cure."