4 ms·

Doctors claim to have "functional cure" for HIV

14 points by ghurlman 15y ago

riledhel 15y ago
This has been posted before? It's about a patient who was given a bone marrow, stem cell transplant that "had astounding results".
- rms 15y ago
  Yup, in this case the cure is worse than the disease.
jbyers 15y ago
This story -- which is no doubt remarkable -- seems to make the rounds frequently both on mainstream news and HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=357144 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=478354 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=678857 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1139637 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2002843 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2004448 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2005318 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2006975 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2007580 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2554536 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2617358
woodall 15y ago
>"The Berlin Patient," as Brown is known, received stem cells from a donor who was immune to HIV. In fact, about one percent of Caucasians are immune to HIV. Some say it goes back to the Great Plague; People who survived the plague developed an immunity, and that immunity was passed down to their heirs today. Immune to HIV. That's news to me, so i decided to do a bit of research. The gene responsible for this immunity is CCR5-Δ32. It blocks a receptor in white blood cells; not allowing the virus to attach. The original patent for finding this gene is awarded to a Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York. The HIV virus first binds with the CCR4 protein, and later CCR5. A mutation in the CCR5 prevents the virus from infecting T-Cells and is what causes this immunity. "A person obtaining two mutated CCR5 genes will be immune to the HIV virus. However, someone containing one mutated CCR5 gene will be resistant to HIV but not necessarily immune. If a person with one mutated CCR5 gene becomes infected the infection tends to have a more lethargic course of infection, than someone without a mutated CCR5 gene."[1] The gene is found in a lot of Swedes, but decreases as one moves deeper into Northern Europe. Approximately 10% of Europeans have the mutated CCR5-Δ32 gene. I found that especially interesting, seeing as the patient in this article received the marrow transplant in Germany; as opposed to the US or otherwise. I think HIV/AIDS is a very interesting virus. The new small pox of sorts. [1] https://sharepoint.cisat.jmu.edu/isat/klevicca/Web/Case_Studies/351%20aids%20resistance.doc https://sharepoint.cisat.jmu.edu/isat/klevicca/Web/Case_Stud...
- pella 15y ago
  Now it is very easy to know this kind of information: https://www.23andme.com/health/Resistance-to-HIV-AIDS/ https://www.23andme.com/health/Resistance-to-HIV-AIDS/

14 points by ghurlman 15y ago

This has been posted before? It's about a patient who was given a bone marrow, stem cell transplant that "had astounding results".

rms 15y ago
Yup, in this case the cure is worse than the disease.

jbyers 15y ago

This story -- which is no doubt remarkable -- seems to make the rounds frequently both on mainstream news and HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=357144 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=478354 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=678857 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1139637 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2002843 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2004448 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2005318 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2006975 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2007580 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2554536 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2617358

woodall 15y ago

>"The Berlin Patient," as Brown is known, received stem cells from a donor who was immune to HIV. In fact, about one percent of Caucasians are immune to HIV. Some say it goes back to the Great Plague; People who survived the plague developed an immunity, and that immunity was passed down to their heirs today. Immune to HIV. That's news to me, so i decided to do a bit of research. The gene responsible for this immunity is CCR5-Δ32. It blocks a receptor in white blood cells; not allowing the virus to attach. The original patent for finding this gene is awarded to a Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York. The HIV virus first binds with the CCR4 protein, and later CCR5. A mutation in the CCR5 prevents the virus from infecting T-Cells and is what causes this immunity. "A person obtaining two mutated CCR5 genes will be immune to the HIV virus. However, someone containing one mutated CCR5 gene will be resistant to HIV but not necessarily immune. If a person with one mutated CCR5 gene becomes infected the infection tends to have a more lethargic course of infection, than someone without a mutated CCR5 gene."[1] The gene is found in a lot of Swedes, but decreases as one moves deeper into Northern Europe. Approximately 10% of Europeans have the mutated CCR5-Δ32 gene. I found that especially interesting, seeing as the patient in this article received the marrow transplant in Germany; as opposed to the US or otherwise. I think HIV/AIDS is a very interesting virus. The new small pox of sorts. [1] https://sharepoint.cisat.jmu.edu/isat/klevicca/Web/Case_Studies/351%20aids%20resistance.doc https://sharepoint.cisat.jmu.edu/isat/klevicca/Web/Case_Stud...

pella 15y ago
Now it is very easy to know this kind of information: https://www.23andme.com/health/Resistance-to-HIV-AIDS/ https://www.23andme.com/health/Resistance-to-HIV-AIDS/