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posted by takyon on Wednesday March 06 2019, @09:24PM   Printer-friendly

For just the second time since the global epidemic began, a patient appears to have been cured of infection with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.

The news comes nearly 12 years to the day after the first patient known to be cured, a feat that researchers have long tried, and failed, to duplicate. The surprise success now confirms that a cure for H.I.V. infection is possible, if difficult, researchers said.

The investigators are to publish their report on Tuesday in the journal Nature and to present some of the details at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle.

Publicly, the scientists are describing the case as a long-term remission. In interviews, most experts are calling it a cure, with the caveat that it is hard to know how to define the word when there are only two known instances.

Both milestones resulted from bone-marrow transplants given to infected patients. But the transplants were intended to treat cancer in the patients, not H.I.V. Bone-marrow transplantation is unlikely to be a realistic treatment option in the near future. Powerful drugs are now available to control H.I.V. infection, while the transplants are risky, with harsh side effects that can last for years. But rearming the body with immune cells similarly modified to resist H.I.V. might well succeed as a practical treatment, experts said.

HIV-1 remission following CCR5Δ32/Δ32 haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1027-4) (DX)


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by jmorris on Wednesday March 06 2019, @11:21PM (1 child)

    by jmorris (4844) on Wednesday March 06 2019, @11:21PM (#810918)

    And it might just be that simple. If HIV only infects the T-Cells and you destroy the entire immune system and keep it gone longer than the virus can exist free floating, it is gone. But you would need a 100.00% kill rate for that to work. With only the two examples it is hard to say much.

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  • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday March 07 2019, @06:02PM

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Thursday March 07 2019, @06:02PM (#811251) Journal

    Very true. No food, predator dies. Trick being to keep the host alive while it has no defense against anything else, either. (Well, limited defense as primary defenses are still up, one hopes.)

    --
    This sig for rent.