3 ms·

I could see you selling it to people who have been told they have AIDS, but want to see if they are actually immune and don't need the expensive (around 20,000

I could see you selling it to people who have been told they have AIDS, but want to see if they are actually immune and don't need the expensive (around 20,000 a year, last I've heard) medicine.

rms 19y ago
The market for that is incredibly small. I have only seen one case of a CCR5 delta 32 homozygous individual with HIV in the scientific literature. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T1B-45Y6RP9-H&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=65d83dbf8ba06d9a3b62902766559de4 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi...
- cstejerean 19y ago
  If I read that article right it says 1% not a single case (but then again I didn't read too hard)
  - rms 19y ago
    1% of people are homozygous for the mutation. The study itself is of one individual with the homozygous mutation that persistently had measurable viral loads for HIV-1. Normally the homozygous CCR5 mutation means you don't get HIV, because HIV infects through the CCR5 receptors which CCR5 D32 homozygous positive individuals don't have. But you could get infected by a blood transfusion from a late stage HIV patient, because HIV eventually starts infecting via the CXCR4 receptor. You could also get infected via the less transmitted and geographically confined HIV-2. But these scenarios are unlikely to happen, so they haven't happened very often. The study was notable because they found ONE GUY who couldn't fight off HIV with CCR5 delta 32 homozyous. If we could magically take away the CCR5 receptors from HIV+ individuals, many would be able to fight HIV to the point where they tested negative on some HIV tests. See this old thread for discussion of Josh's curing HIV idea. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47751 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47751

I could see you selling it to people who have been told they have AIDS, but want to see if they are actually immune and don't need the expensive (around 20,000 a year, last I've heard) medicine.

rms 19y ago

The market for that is incredibly small. I have only seen one case of a CCR5 delta 32 homozygous individual with HIV in the scientific literature. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T1B-45Y6RP9-H&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=65d83dbf8ba06d9a3b62902766559de4 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi...

cstejerean 19y ago
If I read that article right it says 1% not a single case (but then again I didn't read too hard)
- rms 19y ago
  1% of people are homozygous for the mutation. The study itself is of one individual with the homozygous mutation that persistently had measurable viral loads for HIV-1. Normally the homozygous CCR5 mutation means you don't get HIV, because HIV infects through the CCR5 receptors which CCR5 D32 homozygous positive individuals don't have. But you could get infected by a blood transfusion from a late stage HIV patient, because HIV eventually starts infecting via the CXCR4 receptor. You could also get infected via the less transmitted and geographically confined HIV-2. But these scenarios are unlikely to happen, so they haven't happened very often. The study was notable because they found ONE GUY who couldn't fight off HIV with CCR5 delta 32 homozyous. If we could magically take away the CCR5 receptors from HIV+ individuals, many would be able to fight HIV to the point where they tested negative on some HIV tests. See this old thread for discussion of Josh's curing HIV idea. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47751 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47751