I mentioned this guy's story on another [old] thread (I've been following it since 2008 http://blogs.wsj.com/heal...nt-of-aids and http://online.wsj.com/art...07555.html ).. amazing!

-- Now if only the transplant didn't cost over $100K (and that part of the European population would donate cells for research and/or transplants)

First man ‘functionally cured’ of HIV

By Liz Goodwin
Fri Jun 3, 5:40 pm ET

Since the HIV virus was discovered 30 years ago this week, 30 million people have died from the disease, and it continues to spread at the rate of 7,000 people per day globally, the UN says.

There's not much good news when it comes to this devastating disease. But that is perhaps why the story of the man scientists call the "Berlin patient" is so remarkable and has generated so much excitement among the HIV advocacy community.

Timothy Ray Brown suffered from both leukemia and HIV when he received a bone marrow stem cell transplant in Berlin, Germany in 2007. The transplant came from a man who was immune to HIV, which scientists say about 1 percent of Caucasians are. (According to San Francisco's CBS affiliate, the trait may be passed d...ancestors who became immune to the plague centuries ago.)

What happened next has stunned the dozens of scientists who are closely monitoring Brown: His HIV went away.

"He has no replicating virus and he isn't taking any medication. And he will now probably never have any problems with HIV," his doctor Gero Huetter told Reuters. Brown now lives in the Bay Area, and suffers from some mild neurological difficulties after the operation. "It makes me very happy," he says of the incredible cure.

The development of anti-retroviral drugs in the 1990s was the first sign of hope in the epidemic, transforming the disease from a sudden killer to a more manageable illness that could be lived with for decades. But still, the miraculous cocktail of drugs is expensive, costing $13 billion a year in developing countries alone, according to Reuters. That figure is expected to triple in 20 years--raising the worry that more sick people will not be able to afford treatment.

Although Brown's story is remarkable, scientists were quick to point out that bone marrow transplants can be fatal, and there's no way Brown's treatment could be applied to the 33.3 million people around the world living with HIV. The discovery does encourage "cure research," according to Dr. Jay Levy, who co-discovered HIV thirty years ago, something that many people did not even think was possible years ago.

You can watch Brown talk about his cure in this CBS video report.

(Brown: Eric Risberg/AP)

[Edited 6/5/11 11:19am]

It does give a slight glimmer of hope. But the bone marrow for the transplant came from a man that was immune to HIV. The article said 1% of the population are ( I had no idea that anyone could be immune). So it is highly unlikely that it can be a cure for all at this point, and the article also said the operation was quite risky. It would be wonderful if they could figure out how to replicate the immune person's cells.

PurpleKittyK said:

It does give a slight glimmer of hope. But the bone marrow for the transplant came from a man that was immune to HIV. The article said 1% of the population are ( I had no idea that anyone could be immune). So it is highly unlikely that it can be a cure for all at this point, and the article also said the operation was quite risky. It would be wonderful if they could figure out how to replicate the immune person's cells.

PurpleKittyK said:

It does give a slight glimmer of hope. But the bone marrow for the transplant came from a man that was immune to HIV. The article said 1% of the population are ( I had no idea that anyone could be immune). So it is highly unlikely that it can be a cure for all at this point, and the article also said the operation was quite risky. It would be wonderful if they could figure out how to replicate the immune person's cells.

They've been monitoring this guy for almost 4 yrs

~ I heard about the immunity some folks are born with due to that mutated gene well before this guy, but they hadn't yet identified what exactly was allowing the immunity to occur

While I wouldn't expect there to be a 'harvesting' of enough stem cells (what is 1 percent of 6+ billion?) to treat the millions of ppl around the world living with HIV now, but, it's bound to be of great help in creating a cure or vaccine (every transplant operation has risks, especially bone marrow transplants... and, unfortunately, not everybody is going to have health coverage/be able to afford that kind of operation ).

I hope once the word about this really spreads, there can be a way to test ppl for the gene (it's mostly northern Europeans), that they are willing to help....

-- and that religious nuts & bigots don't try to [further] block stem cell research.

the old thread.

ScarletScandal said:

PurpleKittyK said:

It does give a slight glimmer of hope. But the bone marrow for the transplant came from a man that was immune to HIV. The article said 1% of the population are ( I had no idea that anyone could be immune). So it is highly unlikely that it can be a cure for all at this point, and the article also said the operation was quite risky. It would be wonderful if they could figure out how to replicate the immune person's cells.

Good news! At least a little step to finding a cure.

Can't believe after all these years, still 7000 people per day get infected...