"After Marrow Transplants, 2 More Patients Appear H.I.V.-Free Without Drugs"

[applegrove]

After Marrow Transplants, 2 More Patients Appear H.I.V.-Free Without Drugs

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. at the NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/health/post-transplant-and-off-drugs-hiv-patients-are-apparently-virus-free.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes

"SNIP...................................

The Boston cases, like Mr. Brown’s, are of no practical use to the 34 million people in the world who have H.I.V. but neither blood cancer nor access to premier cancer-treatment hospitals.

But AIDS experts still find the Boston cases exciting because they are another step in the long and so-far-fruitless search for a cure. They offer encouragement to ambitious future projects to genetically re-engineer infected patients’ cells to be infection-resistant. At least two teams are already experimenting with variants on this idea, said Dr. Steven G. Deeks, an AIDS researcher at the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, a discoverer of the virus that causes AIDS and the president of the International AIDS Society, called the findings about the Boston patients “very interesting and very encouraging.” The announcement about the cases was made at the society’s annual conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Mr. Brown is sometimes referred to as the “first H.I.V. cure.”


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[Liberal Veteran]

1. Fascinating. Though, logical if you think about it.

Since HIV "hides" in immune system cells, it is essentially a scorched earth approach to eradication.

I've been living with this virus since 1986 and while I have the virus under control (13 years undetectable), I'd give just about anything to be rid of it for good.

[applegrove]

2. Let‘s hope it becomes regular therapy.

And of course that they can find some therapy that would work in the parts of the world where bone marrow transplants are too expensive for the locals. Great news for the world, not just the people who have to live with it now, like you. We all walk a little lighter with news like this.