A cure for AIDS?
May 16, 2011 2:48 PM Subscribe
First man to be "cured" of aids? A 45-year-old man now living in the Bay Area may be the first person ever cured of the deadly disease AIDS, the result of the discovery of an apparent HIV immunity gene.
Timothy Ray Brown tested positive for HIV back in 1995, but has now entered scientific journals as the first man in world history to have that HIV virus completely eliminated from his body in what doctors call a “functional cure.”
Timothy Ray Brown tested positive for HIV back in 1995, but has now entered scientific journals as the first man in world history to have that HIV virus completely eliminated from his body in what doctors call a “functional cure.”
This post was deleted for the following reason: pretty sure this is the same general case that was in the post from a few months back -- jessamyn
I've read about "the Berlin Patient" before, but this is the first time I see them connecting it to the plague-surviving population. That's very interesting (and great for him!), but like they say bone-marrow transplants won't be the way to go with this. Too risky. But this is a great clue for further research.
posted by dabitch at 2:54 PM on May 16, 2011
posted by dabitch at 2:54 PM on May 16, 2011
Finally we can get back to cutting down that goddamn rainforest.
posted by klue at 2:55 PM on May 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by klue at 2:55 PM on May 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'm cautiously optimistic about this. If "cautiously" can be read here as "barely contained." This is, at the very least, an incredible step forward.
posted by Maaik at 2:55 PM on May 16, 2011
posted by Maaik at 2:55 PM on May 16, 2011
As Panjandrum noted in the original thread, the cure is pretty damn harrowing.
posted by blucevalo at 2:56 PM on May 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by blucevalo at 2:56 PM on May 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
Some researchers think the immunity gene goes back to the Great Plague: people who survived the plague passed their immunity down and their heirs have it today.Lamarck was right!
Never-mind that bubonic plague was bacterial, not viral. Truly excellent science writing, there.
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Anyway, the impression that I got when this news came out was that the guy was basically a goner and this was sort of just an experiment on someone who was basically going to die no matter what. So I'm kind of impressed that he seemed to have fully recovered. Was he totally compatible with the marrow too, or does he have to take immunosuppressants in order not to reject the marrow?
posted by delmoi at 2:57 PM on May 16, 2011
Wow, it sounds like people are suggesting taking your own stem cells, genetically modifying them with the AIDS immunity genes and then growing new marrow and then transplanting it. Interesting idea.
posted by delmoi at 2:59 PM on May 16, 2011
posted by delmoi at 2:59 PM on May 16, 2011
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posted by Rykey at 2:51 PM on May 16, 2011