Cure for HIV/AIDS?

[Sir_Winston54]

If true and feasible, what wonderful news for the season!

Sorry the article is so short and no additional info available at this time.

Doctors: We have cured man of HIV
Using stem cells, a medical team in Germany says it has rid the "Berlin Patient" of his HIV infection
By Michelle Fitzsimmons

Tweets are flying with news of a major medical breakthrough: Doctors in Germany have strong evidence that they've cured a man of HIV using stem cells.

HuffPo reports that Timothy Ray Brown, an American dubbed the "Berlin Patient," underwent a stem cell transplant in 2007 to treat leukemia. The stem cell donor, chosen after careful vetting by Brown's medical team, also had a natural resistance to HIV. Those cells regenerated more HIV-resistant cells and, his doctors say, there is now no sign of the infection.

The doctors' findings will be published in the December issue of the peer-reviewed journal Blood, but the Web is aflutter with the implications of their research. This, one source reports, paves the way for an HIV cure using genetically engineered stem cells.​

 

[popcorn2721]

The process was too expensive for common usage... the formula was thrown away and no cure exists.

Its a shame when the money is in the treatment, and not the cure.

 

[Sir_Winston54]

The process was too expensive for common usage... the formula was thrown away and no cure exists.

Its a shame when the money is in the treatment, and not the cure.

My sources are linked in the headline and in the cite to Blood; where is your source? If you don't have one, please don't pollute something like this with your cynicism.

 

[bhndblueyes88]

The process was too expensive for common usage... the formula was thrown away and no cure exists.

Its a shame when the money is in the treatment, and not the cure.

It's a shame there are cynics out there who will look at a great step forward toward helping people be free of a debilitating disease and treat it as if it is a step back.

Even if we don't end up using the cells themselves, research like this is priceless. So the stem cells are too expensive. Fine. further research can use the stem cells of a resistant donor to find out exactly what makes them resistant, and possibly use that to develop a vaccine to prevent further infections, or create an antiviral that will help a body be rid of the disease.

But no, let's be negative and dismal. That will REALLY be helpful!!!

 

[Etoile]

I think I heard about this before... nice to see it again! I never heard of it worked on his cancer too. Stem cells rock, my aunt is getting hers harvested right now for her lymphoma.

 

[popcorn2721]

It's a shame there are cynics out there who will look at a great step forward toward helping people be free of a debilitating disease and treat it as if it is a step back.

Even if we don't end up using the cells themselves, research like this is priceless. So the stem cells are too expensive. Fine. further research can use the stem cells of a resistant donor to find out exactly what makes them resistant, and possibly use that to develop a vaccine to prevent further infections, or create an antiviral that will help a body be rid of the disease.

But no, let's be negative and dismal. That will REALLY be helpful!!!

You just caught me on a dismal morning...I agree it will be helpful and great even if it works.

 

[teknight]

I think I heard about this before... nice to see it again! I never heard of it worked on his cancer too. Stem cells rock, my aunt is getting hers harvested right now for her lymphoma.

I found this article last night (on fetlife...of all places)
Stem cell transplant has cured HIV infection in 'Berlin patient', say doctors:
Here's a quote:

The German researchers and San Francisco-based immunologist Professor Jay Levy believe that the findings point to the importance of suppressing the production of CCR5-bearing cells, either through transplants or gene therapy.

Slightly off topic: something like 1/2 the comments to the article posting on fet were against Big Pharma (in the US). I wonder why.