babble » blogs » Strollerderby
Strollerderby
Scientists Believe They Have Found a Cure for HIV
Zambia, 2005. A cure for HIV will radically change the world.
The Huffington Post broke the news this afternoon that “Doctors believe an HIV-positive man who underwent a stem cell transplant has been cured as a result of the procedure.” In fact, in a report in the medical journal Blood, scientists declared that “cure of HIV infection has been achieved.”
The medical community believes that Timothy Ray Brown, also known as the “Berlin Patient,” was cured of HIV via the stem cell transplant he underwent in 2007 while being treated for leukemia. The Huffington Post reports, “Brown’s case paves a path for constructing a permanent cure for HIV through genetically-engineered stem cells.”
The Huffington Post goes on to reference TIME magazine’s coverage of a recent study showing “that healthy individuals who take antiretrovirals, medicine commonly prescribed for treating HIV, can reduce their risk of contracting the disease by up to 73 percent.”
TIME also reported recently that Bruce Walker, an AIDS researcher at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, “published research that helps explain… genetic variations that change key proteins in the immune system. The genetic variations change about a half-dozen amino acid building blocks; those variants make cells that are infected with HIV visible to the body’s immune system and vulnerable to attack.” NPR says, “These differences help explain why some patients can be infected with HIV for decades, never get treatment and yet never progress to AIDS.” These variants were found in people of multiple ethnicities, and scientists “hope their findings will help researchers figure out how to manipulate the immune response in people who do not have the benefit of the genetic variations,” per TIME.
Looking at each of these developments individually, it would be difficult to say we will soon be able to rid the world of such a catastrophic disease, but collectively, these announcements prove that the scientific and medical communities are making huge progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Go Back To Strollerderby
6 Comments
Laure68 commented on Dec 14 10 at 4:04 pmI always get nervous about any medical story on HuffPo (they are a laughingstock as far as scientists are concerned) but I really hope this one is true.
carolyncastiglia commented on Dec 14 10 at 4:06 pmHere’s the abstract: http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/cgi/content/abstract/blood-2010-09-309591v1
Tim commented on Dec 14 10 at 4:13 pmSo they’re saying that the replacement stem cells allowed his body to identify & attack the HIV virus?
carolyncastiglia commented on Dec 14 10 at 4:17 pmI can’t say, Tim. If you’d like to look into it further, click the link I posted for the journal abstract. I’m sure there will be more in-depth coverage of this in the days and weeks to come.
Tom commented on Dec 14 10 at 7:36 pmNo, the way the cure worked was that stem cells that were transplanted didn’t have the right receptor for HIV to bond to, so it couldn’t infect the cells. The body did not identify and attack HIV, instead it just blocked HIV from being able to enter the cells needed to replicate, and thus over time it died. In addition, part of the treatment for his leukemia was a ton of immunosuppressant drugs and chemo therapy that probably wiped out a lot of the HIV as well, and then after the transplant it wasn’t able to recover because the new stem cells blocked it.
Sarah Jones commented on Dec 16 10 at 11:18 amThe thing with antibody tests is that they are temperamental. This video will explain better than I. It is important to consider especially with children. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS-ytZfNWXw Antibodies are all over the place and they do not discriminate. It is very curious how this procedure has not been replicated and how the big AIDS dollars have not paid attention to it at the CDC/NIH and UNAIDS. This is hope but there should be 1000 patients by now.
Add your take:
Note: Babble is a supportive, diverse community. We encourage a range of opinions,
but any unduly hostile comments will be removed.
Comments are delayed up to 15 minutes
Lori Garcia 
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.
6