Stem Cell Transplant Cures HIV Patient

[troutman]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/1..._n_796521.html

On the heels of World AIDS Day comes a stunning medical breakthrough: Doctors believe an HIV-positive man who underwent a stem cell transplant has been cured as a result of the procedure.

Timothy Ray Brown, also known as the "Berlin Patient," received the transplant in 2007 as part of a lengthy treatment course for leukemia. His doctors recently published a report in the journal Blood affirming that the results of extensive testing "strongly suggest that cure of HIV infection has been achieved."

Brown's case paves a path for constructing a permanent cure for HIV through genetically-engineered stem cells.

[Cheese]

excellent news if true.

Now if we can get more stem cell funding in place to deal with many of the other maladies that exist...

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by troutman

Brown's case paves a path for constructing a permanent cure for HIV through genetically-engineered stem cells.

Not if the conservative religious types have anything to say about it . . .

Seriously though, good news!

[Cecil Terwilliger]

I wonder what this would mean for over-population. The earth is already expected to hit like 11 billion in the next 50 years or something.

[ma-skis.com]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I wonder what this would mean for over-population. The earth is already expected to hit like 11 billion in the next 50 years or something.

soylent green

[BlackEleven]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I wonder what this would mean for over-population. The earth is already expected to hit like 11 billion in the next 50 years or something.

Well even if it works, it's probably not going to make much difference in places with high-infection rates and lots of poverty, like Africa. They simply won't be able to afford the treatment. As sad as it is, millions of people worldwide already die of curable diseases.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by BlackEleven

Well even if it works, it's probably not going to make much difference in places with high-infection rates and lots of poverty, like Africa. They simply won't be able to afford the treatment. As sad as it is, millions of people worldwide already die of curable diseases.

True enough.

[CaptainCrunch]

That would be awesome if true, and while I'm not a doctor, I would have to wonder how Stem Cells lead to the destruction of a rapidly shifting virus that the human immune system can't keep up to.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I wonder what this would mean for over-population. The earth is already expected to hit like 11 billion in the next 50 years or something.

canada and russia have plenty of space until we can colonize mars

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by fotze

In other news, cheese is back on the anal train.

Carry on with your business . . . there's nothing to see here.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by MattyC

canada and russia have plenty of space until we can colonize mars

I was more thinking of Logan's Run type scenario.

[Ashartus]

I'm always a bit hesitant to believe any medical reports in the Huffington Post, but it has been published in a reasonably respectable journal. The wording in the journal abstract was a bit less strong than the HP article (journalists tend to oversensationalize), but it certainly looks like a promising, albeit likely expensive, line of research.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by MattyC

canada and russia have plenty of space until we can colonize mars

I think it is more resources than space.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard

I think it is more resources than space.

I figured the mars part of my comment was enough for evidence that it was very tongue-in-cheek.

[mikey_the_redneck]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I wonder what this would mean for over-population. The earth is already expected to hit like 11 billion in the next 50 years or something.

Where do you get the idea that the earth will be (if not already) over-populated?

I am curious, because there have been population studies and they figure that sometime between 2020 and 2050 the world’s fertility rate will fall below the global replacement rate.

http://www.economist.com/opinion/dis...ry_id=14744915


The globalists are using over-population scare tactics to push their phony climate change theories so we all hand our money over to them.....disgusting.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

I'm always a bit hesitant to believe any medical reports in the Huffington Post, but it has been published in a reasonably respectable journal. The wording in the journal abstract was a bit less strong than the HP article (journalists tend to oversensationalize), but it certainly looks like a promising, albeit likely expensive, line of research.

Good point. HuffPo isn't much better than Oprah in medical coverage.

[Canada 02]

Originally Posted by Cheese

excellent news if true.

Now if we can get more stem cell funding in place to deal with many of the other maladies that exist...

to be clear, this is not embyonic stem cells, it is hematopoietic stem cells (i.e. a bone marrow transplant). No apparent controversy with this type of stem cell.

This was quite the fortutious discovery. The patient having leukemia, infected by the specific strain of HIV that cannot infect the specific stem cells used in transplantation for his leukemia

a conventional bone marrow transplant would not have worked, and a different strain of HIV would have re-infected his new blood cells

lucky man

[Knut]

Yeah...it really does not mean that we can miraculously cure all these people infected by HIV. First off you need a perfect match for bone marrow, that also contains a rare mutation that leads to immunity to HIV. What it does do however, is help scientists target a potential way to get an improvement.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0325234239.htm Here is an interesting article on that specific mutation.

Essentially what it is trying to say is that 10% of Europeans have this resistance due to the bubonic plague.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by MattyC

I figured the mars part of my comment was enough for evidence that it was very tongue-in-cheek.

Fair enough, I do know some people who feel as though land space is the only thing that matters and don't appreciate how much in the way of resources we as humans require for modern living.

[TSXCman]

omg christopher reeves was right. sadly too late