Man appears free of HIV after stem cell transplant

[groovychk]

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 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.

The mutation is known as CCR5 delta32 and is found in 1 percent to 3 percent of white populations of European descent.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/11/health.hiv.stemcell/

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This is some very cool stuff. A harbinger of great things to come I hope.

Comments

[kyrie1618.livejournal.com]

This is so exciting! :) So close to a cure...

Have you heard of fibroblast growth factor? Apparently it's a possible cure for heart disease but it was in Reader's Digest instead of a medical journal so grain of salt and all.

But there's so many different kinds of cancer - will we have to cure them all separately?

[(Anonymous)]

An American. An American was receiving stem cell cancer therapy... in Germany! Thank you, George Bush and NeoCons, for systematically savaging our scientific and medical competitiveness, not to mention the confidence that Americans have access to the best medical care, just to win elections. Shameful!

I'm so pleased for the patient, of course, but very sad for our country as well.

President Bush

[(Anonymous)]

He was cured with adult stem cells, not embryonic stem cells. President Bush decided against using Federal money to fund embryonic stem cell research.

Get your facts straight, Anonymous 1.

jtdavies