First man functionally cured of HIV

[Dorian Thompson]

Why isn't this all over the $%&(#@@%$^&*@! news? This should be clogging the headlines--not celebrity crap. This is wonderful. It's not instant or easy but it gives legitimate hope to the world. This man's body is no longer replicating the virus. He's cured of HIV. He's CURED.

What I want to know is....if 1% of the white population is, in fact, immune to HIV, why in the HELL are the drug companies not working with that to try and produce a vaccine??? I had no idea that a small percentage of people were immune.

First man cured

 

[Uncle Sol]

This news isn't actually that new. People have reported on that man before. What's being done about the information they can learn from him and those people who are immune is another matter.

 

[Trekker4747]

Yeah, this has been in and out of the news and there's about a billion steps between what's happened with this man and creating a cure. I mean someone not too long ago also survived raibees by being put in a medically-endiced coma, a disease that is still fatal if no treatment is gotten in the earliest stages. Just because one person survived/got cured doesn't make a revolution in medical science.

 

[Finn]

From what I remember about that guy (I read about that a while ago) is that how the doctors think he was cured, would be impractical and perhaps too brutal to inflict on every HIV patient.

 

[RJDiogenes]

There's pretty much always going to be somebody who's immune to anything. The fact that only 1% are immune to HIV demonstrates what a monstrous thing it is. Still, the hope of a cure or vaccine lies in the biology of those happy few.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Rather than an outright bone-marrow transplant, do you think that eventually gene therapy could be adapted to confer immunity upon people? Obviously we'd have to be very careful with that kind of treatment because of how gene therapy is typically administered, but who knows...maybe that could be an angle that would avoid the need for a transplant.

 

[JarodRussell]

That' pretty awesome. Now all we have to do is to suck the immune people dry of bone marrow and can treat millions. Surely the critics of Picard's motives in Star Trek: Insurrection would agree on that.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Obviously sucking the bone marrow dry is not a solution. I don't understand why their immune blood and antibodies can't be used to try and create a vaccine.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

Well it's the first story on Yahoo News right now. It bumped Pink's new baby all the way to number 2!

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Oh yes, little Willow Sage. I can't tell you how concerned I was that I didn't know what Pink had named her baby. Such is news. When Pakistan got the bomb all the news was Monica Lewinsky's blue dress.

 

[sojourner]

The answer is obvious. This man must procreate with every woman on the planet.

 

[Goliath]

The answer is obvious. This man must procreate with every woman on the planet.

It's a heavy responsibility. But I'm sure he'd be willing to shoulder it.

I actually read something interesting about the unusually-high percentage of Europeans who are immune to HIV. Apparently, one of the leading theories is that it's a result of their ancestors surviving the Black Death in the 14th century, and passing their resistance on to their descendants. So basically, they're benefiting today from the fact that Europe was such a cesspool of disease and filth hundreds of years ago.

 

[Danoz]

From what I remember about that guy (I read about that a while ago) is that how the doctors think he was cured, would be impractical and perhaps too brutal to inflict on every HIV patient.

This is exactly right.

This news has been out for over a year, but it resurfaces now and then w/ the help of Drudge Report and other distribution sites. In reality, a rather healthy man with HIV was functionally cured with the help of a bone marrow transplant from a person immune to the disease. Bone marrow transplants are rather dangerous.

So, yes, this is very interesting news, but at the same time it's not very helpful to the vast majority of people out there living with HIV and AIDS. What we can focus on is lifespan, continued medications, quality of living and prevention. Meanwhile, scientists will continue working on a cure.

 

[Hound of UIster]

Obviously sucking the bone marrow dry is not a solution. I don't understand why their immune blood and antibodies can't be used to try and create a vaccine.

Because it has nothing to do with an antibody.

The mans immnunity to the virus is because of a receptor that his T-cells do not have that the virus needs to infect the host cells.

 

[Trekker4747]

Obviously sucking the bone marrow dry is not a solution. I don't understand why their immune blood and antibodies can't be used to try and create a vaccine.

Because it has nothing to do with an antibody.

The mans immnunity to the virus is because of a receptor that his T-cells do not have that the virus needs to infect the host cells.

And obviously, as TNG has taught us, if you mess around with people's T-Cells we can de-evolve into spiders, lizards and proto-humans!

 

[RJDiogenes]

The answer is obvious. This man must procreate with every woman on the planet.

It's a heavy responsibility. But I'm sure he'd be willing to shoulder it.

I actually read something interesting about the unusually-high percentage of Europeans who are immune to HIV. Apparently, one of the leading theories is that it's a result of their ancestors surviving the Black Death in the 14th century, and passing their resistance on to their descendants. So basically, they're benefiting today from the fact that Europe was such a cesspool of disease and filth hundreds of years ago.

This could be true. That's why American Indians were more susceptible to European diseases than vice versa.

 

[mimic]

What I want to know is....if 1% of the white population is, in fact, immune to HIV, why in the HELL are the drug companies not working with that to try and produce a vaccine??? I had no idea that a small percentage of people were immune.

In order for a virus to infect a cell it first needs to get into that cell. HIV and a lot of other viruses accomplish this by first binding to a receptor found on the surface of the cell. If they cannot do this initial attachment, they can't infect the cell. That's why there are diseases that are species-specific - a virus that only infects dogs can't infect non-canines because other species lack that receptor on their cells. The 1% are immune because they lack this receptor. Thus this guy got a rebooted immune system from the bone marrow transplant that lacks this receptor, meaning his HIV could not infect any more T-cells.

A bone marrow transplant means the eradication of your current blood-producing marrow, so it effectively eliminates your immune system for a while. Most HIV patients have all kinds of diseases, and eliminating their immune system for a short time would be extremely dangerous. Additionally finding an immune donor who is a good match (rejection) would be difficult, making this procedure impractical for most cases. Most people are only good matches with siblings.

Finally, HIV is an RNA virus that mutates quickly, meaning it's very difficult to come up with a workable vaccine against it.

 

[farmkid]

What I want to know is....if 1% of the white population is, in fact, immune to HIV, why in the HELL are the drug companies not working with that to try and produce a vaccine??? I had no idea that a small percentage of people were immune.

In order for a virus to infect a cell it first needs to get into that cell. HIV and a lot of other viruses accomplish this by first binding to a receptor found on the surface of the cell. If they cannot do this initial attachment, they can't infect the cell. That's why there are diseases that are species-specific - a virus that only infects dogs can't infect non-canines because other species lack that receptor on their cells. The 1% are immune because they lack this receptor. Thus this guy got a rebooted immune system from the bone marrow transplant that lacks this receptor, meaning his HIV could not infect any more T-cells.

A bone marrow transplant means the eradication of your current blood-producing marrow, so it effectively eliminates your immune system for a while. Most HIV patients have all kinds of diseases, and eliminating their immune system for a short time would be extremely dangerous. Additionally finding an immune donor who is a good match (rejection) would be difficult, making this procedure impractical for most cases. Most people are only good matches with siblings.

Finally, HIV is an RNA virus that mutates quickly, meaning it's very difficult to come up with a workable vaccine against it.

I was just about to say the same thing, but you summarized it well so I'll only add this: a bone marrow transplant could work for a small number of HIV patients, but it's not a cure for everyone. In order to work, tissue-matched donor must be found that is also HIV-resistant. It's very hard to find an appropriate donor (odds are very tiny) and only 1% of those you find will be resistant. I would guess you would have to screen between 1 and 100 million people to find a HIV-resistant tissue-matched donor. Then, that donor has to be willing to donate. Even then, there are other significant potential complications from the transplant and later rejection to deal with.

A much more likely cure might be to remove some hemopoetic stem cells from the HIV patient, disable the gene for the HIV receptor through genetic recombination (gene therapy) and then use that for an autologous transplant. This approach is not trivial, and there are still significant risks, but it's more likely to work and more practical.

 

[Nerdius Maximus]

Why isn't this all over the $%&(#@@%$^&*@! news? This should be clogging the headlines--not celebrity crap. This is wonderful. It's not instant or easy but it gives legitimate hope to the world. This man's body is no longer replicating the virus. He's cured of HIV. He's CURED.

What I want to know is....if 1% of the white population is, in fact, immune to HIV, why in the HELL are the drug companies not working with that to try and produce a vaccine??? I had no idea that a small percentage of people were immune.

First man cured

The pharmaceutical industry doesn't want AIDS cured any more than it wants a cure for cancer.

 

[JarodRussell]

Why isn't this all over the $%&(#@@%$^&*@! news? This should be clogging the headlines--not celebrity crap. This is wonderful. It's not instant or easy but it gives legitimate hope to the world. This man's body is no longer replicating the virus. He's cured of HIV. He's CURED.

What I want to know is....if 1% of the white population is, in fact, immune to HIV, why in the HELL are the drug companies not working with that to try and produce a vaccine??? I had no idea that a small percentage of people were immune.

First man cured

The pharmaceutical industry doesn't want AIDS cured any more than it wants a cure for cancer.

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c6HsiixFS8[/yt]