Another Person Cured of HIV After Stem Cell Transplant:
The Düsseldorf patient is the fifth suspected HIV cure, following a stem cell transplant from a donor genetically resistant to the virus.
[...] According to the man's doctors, he has lived essentially free of the virus for about a decade. Though the treatment isn't practical for the general population living with HIV, the knowledge gained from these patients may help scientists figure out a more scalable cure down the road.
The 53-year-old German resident, known only as the Düsseldorf patient (after the city in Germany) underwent the procedure more than nine years ago. He needed the stem cell transplant to help treat a case of acute myeloid leukemia, a form of cancer that affects white blood cells. But his doctors had the opportunity to rebuild his immune system with compatible donor bone marrow from someone with a rare genetic mutation that provides natural resistance to HIV-1, the most common type of the virus.
Though the man did experience some health problems over the years (including a brief recurrence of his cancer a few months after the transplant), his HIV viral loads stayed consistently undetectable while he remained on antiretroviral therapy. At the same time, some tests suggested that his body still contained traces of HIV RNA and DNA, while others indicated that no surviving fragment would be able to replicate and restart the infection. Eventually, in 2018, his doctors made the choice to wean him completely off HIV treatment and monitor him closely. Thankfully, more than four years later, the infection has not returned and they feel confident enough to declare him cured of HIV.
Journal Reference:
Jensen, Björn-Erik Ole, Knops, Elena, Cords, Leon, et al. In-depth virological and immunological characterization of HIV-1 cure after CCR5Δ32/Δ32 allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation [open], Nature Medicine (DOI: 10.1038/s41591-023-02213-x)
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday February 23, @06:33PM
A cure for HIV?
Fusion Power?
People landing on Mars?
Male contraceptive?
While we have a right to peacefully assemble, we do not yet have a right to repair.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Thursday February 23, @06:37PM (2 children)
So if his immune system has been *completely* replaced, doesn't that mean all traces of his original immune system are either no longer present or drastically outnumbered? And in that event (work with me here), we could stem-cell the gay away? I bet they could get funding from both anti-gay groups and the LGBTQ+ community, all kinds of fighting happens, the smoke clears, and ... LGBTQ+ variance in sexual orientation is still a thing, but stem-cell therapies are now mainstream!
Medical science wins forever! I'm sure there are some corner-cases in the distant past that might contradict that, but that would be ridiculous.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday February 23, @07:14PM (1 child)
You're assuming that being gay is due to some X gay gene or something stupid. That is not the case.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1) by XivLacuna on Thursday February 23, @08:09PM
One of the theories I've heard is that it is childhood molestation by adults being a significant cause of homosexuality. Something like 90% of them being molested. If we can solve the molestation issue we could significantly lower the homosexual population. We as a society will save a lot of lives and healthcare resources. Adult diapers producers will have to cut back on production and instead produce more baby diapers.