Man cured of aids.

[CarpathianMuffin]

I must say that if this is true, I'm excited that this could be a possible breakthrough. As it stands it's probably not reliable, but with more development I hope that AIDS can be entirely eliminated.

 

[Super Toast]

It's a good day FOR SCIENCE!

 

[mrdude2010]

that's a huge awesome step i cant wait for it to be instituted on a massive scale.. stem cells with HIV-immune bone marrow? that would definitley help a lot

 

[Death God]

Well, I'm in America and never once heard this? So..... wow. This is new to me. Dang, my uncle will be pleased if this works.

 

[Tibike77]

This is absolutely amazing , i mean if we can cure aids, then how long before cancer ?

Much, much, MUCH longer.
HIV/AIDS is a virus. Cancer is the organism itself going bonkers.
You might as well ask for a cure for aging, I think a cure for cancer would be about on par difficulty-wise.
In fact, I think a proper cure for cancer WOULD effectively also be a cure for aging.

 

[Stalk3rchief]

that's a huge awesome step i cant wait for it to be instituted on a massive scale.. stem cells with HIV-immune bone marrow? that would definitley help a lot

I just hope they can put it into pill form. :X

 

[thedoclc]

I have heard of this. This is not exactly a cure however. The risks of a bone marrow transplant are too great for this to be a cure, compounded with the fact that a HIV resistant compatible bone marrow donor is far rarer than a compatible bone marrow donor (which is hard to get as is). They were working on giving non resistant people 'natural' resistance (kinda like a vaccine but different molecular concept) by using zinc finger kinases to 'knock out' the CCD5 co-receptor. People who are naturally resistant to HIV (approx. 10% of the European population)have a mutation in this receptor which causes a truncated non-functional protein to be produced.
The bad news is that HIV has already adapted to use other co-receptors and HIV resistant individuals are no longer 'immune' to HIV, as some strains can infect them as well.
HAART (High active antiretroviral therapy) has been very successful at keeping people alive with HIV. It can effectively cure HIV if administered within 4 hours of exposure (not a great window, but it gives some help to nurses and doctors who may come in contact with contaminated blood).
Other than that, the most effective combat against HIV now and for the immediate future is Condoms. Don't have unprotected sex.

This person is completely right, sorry to curb everyone's enthusiasm. I heard about this case while I was an undergrad some time ago. Quick question to save me a hunt through my texts: HIV I and II are currently believed to have different origins from SIV (which is a very, very troubling thought - anyone up for an HIV III?). Was the eventual loss of immunity if your CXR was mutated due to the introduction of the second big strain and cross-infection, or did the first evolve it? Or is that still in the air?

The problem is that human beings express a very, very wide range of different molecules on our cells. If something doesn't look like self, the body attacks it ferociously. The most well-known problem of this type occurs with ABO blood groups, but that's trivial compared to finding a donor for bone marrow. Human being express such a wide variety of proteins in what're called the Major Histocompatibility Complexes that finding a donor is a nightmare. If MHC doesn't match, then the tissue is rejected. Making it even worse, there's a group of Minor Histocompatibility Complexes, and it's just about impossible for all those to line up, too. So all transplants have the seeds of rejection - though if you could hold out a while, HIV would be cleared.

The odds of getting someone who is a close enough match for you to get a bone marrow transplant are already terrible. Now, decrease those odds by about 1000-fold due to the rarity of viral immunity. (Some statistician could point out it's not strictly true and they're right.) This is not yet a cure for anyone unless the stars just line up for you perfectly.

Sure, that it was done is exciting and a great sign, but 'cure' it isn't.

 

[WolfThomas]

This is pretty old I knew about this years ago, the problem is that bone marrow transplants are a pretty big deal and there's not too many people resitant/immune to HIV. There's no real way to cure everyone quickly and efficiently so this will only benenfit the super rich.

 

[Cazza]

Interesting. I wonder what the chances are for each person who have this treatment it works for?

 

[Evilbunny]

Wait....which one is the worse STD? Babies or herpes? XD

I think the correct answer here is yes.

 

[Stalk3rchief]

This is pretty old I knew about this years ago, the problem is that bone marrow transplants are a pretty big deal and there's not too many people resitant/immune to HIV. There's no real way to cure everyone quickly and efficiently so this will only benenfit the super rich.

"Although this isn't an actual distributable cure, do you think this is a major step for the health and wellbeing of the people?"

 

[Queen Michael]

I'm Swedish, I didn't know a thing about this, and I hope like mad that it's going to work.

 

[Stalk3rchief]

Sure, that it was done is exciting and a great sign, but 'cure' it isn't.

I never said that this was a cure though. You make several valid points, but the thing is, this man had a 100% chance to die, and now he's going to live. Sure, good for him and it's nearly impossible for it to happen to someone eles, but at least we know about the gene that makes people immune to HIV. I'm no scientist, but I think there-in lies a solution.

 

[Brandon237]

This is good, I live in a high AIDS country, so very good indeed, it's time that we started moving forward with medicine.