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Gene Therapy May Thwart HIV
sciencehabit writes "Over the past few years, a man living in Berlin, Timothy Brown, has become world famous as the first — and thus far only — person to apparently have been cured of his HIV infection. Brown's HIV disappeared after he developed leukemia and doctors gave him repeated blood transfusions from a donor who harbored a mutated version of a receptor the virus uses to enter cells. Now, researchers report promising results from two small gene-therapy studies that mimic this strategy, hinting that the field may be moving closer to a cure that works for the masses."
Then you know what it will do? Put thousands of people out of work!
Think of the Pharmacists!
The cure may work on the masses but I assure you, the masses won't be able to afford it.
and he gets hit by a bus the next day.
The delta CCR5 mutation was already well known, and the subject of several (at least 4) different experimental receptor blocking and gene therapy medications, all of which were blocked by the FDA citing safety concerns.
This is not meant to be a conspiracy theorist bottom feeding post, but simply intended to inform. There have been many studies of this mutation for thereputic uses conducted in Europe over the past decade, including seeveral promising phase 2 trials.
Like most life saving medications though, any prospective cure for HIV will probably be developed in the US, and approved in Europe. (Then approved in the US after decades of routine use overseas.)
While this particular gene therapy might be new, the mechanism is not novel.
Doctors don't make medicine, last I checked.
Well shit, I guess I still have malaria.
Really? The people that develop drugs don't have doctorates?
You, sir, are a jackass.
Um, I don't think this is going to work for the masses, even if we can now do DNA sequencing for about 1/10th what it cost just two years ago, and we have protein folding solutions for HIV thanks to the work of the UW's Baker Lab and all you great volunteers.
Look, the vast and overwhelming quantity of infections are in areas where not only are people very very poor (no, poorer than that, think a couple hundred dollars a year for a family), but they have 2-3 other major infectious diseases to cope with.
This "solution" may provide promise for First World Nations, and the rich elites in the world, but that's about it.
Sheer economics. Polluted/dirty water is the major problem worldwide, quite frankly, ask any epidemiologist.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Pretty sure GP meant physician.
I'll trade in the pharmacists for unfettered, unprotected sex for all. A world without STDs would be an awesome world, indeed. Seinfeld's dream of an intercourse hello would be realized.
Um. HIV is one that gives people the chills today but there are other STD's. Some, like genital herpes are highly contageous and incurable. Hepatitis C is less contageous but also incurable and potentially lethal. There are even antibiotic resistance forms of gonorrhea.
Hold it right there!
As if HIV was the only STD and the others weren't dangerous or troublesome. Even today, HIV is the least of my concern. There is also HepB/C, HPV, Herpes, Syphilis... And unlike HIV, the infections usually come and go and you never know if you're still transmitting or if it'll get worse and cause cancer after a few decades (Hepatitis and HPV, specifically) either to you or your loved one.
If this works, five bucks says within a decade there are hoards of twats screaming about all the 'hidden dangers' of the treatment that mainstream science doesn't want you to know and about how AIDS never killed anyone in the first place and claiming it was dropping before the cure. This will happen, especially if it involves gene therapy.
It's posts like that this that make me really smile. Science -- the faithful and playful (but expensive) dog often blamed for farting during dinner even when it was one of the diners -- is responsible for directly raising someone's... and hopefully a lot more people's, over time... quality of life.
I know what's going to happen, though. Some religious person/group will end up trying to take credit. People will say, "God cured him of his HIV"... well, no, the Delta CCR5 mutation cured him. Modern science cured him. To say that "Well, God guides the hand of the doctors..." is a nothing statement that only makes sense if you assume God exists, but if you're going to assume anything why not just counter-assume that Santa Claus cured him.
(weary voice) Go on world, prove me wrong. I'd just love it if you could prove me wrong this time...
Check out my sci-fi book "Lacuna" at http://goo.gl/MVxX8
Doctors didn't invent trees. The cure existed before the doctors stamped the "Made in the USA" on it.
The survival rate of a bone marrow transplant is around 40% even in the best hospitals in the world. That he had leukemia (probably chronic myeloid leukemia since that's the most common one that's transplanted) and by happy chance the transplant worked and also by happy chance this cured his HIV is great news for him. However this is not going to be used as standard therapy at all, you have better luck taking the drug regimen. What it might do however (hopefully) is continue to push to improve transplant protocols and thus success rates.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I thought South Park had definitively proven that Magic Johnson was able to cure his AIDS through all the money he's earned?
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
No way in hell this will see light of day in north america or possibly rest of the world. Can you imagine all the charities and charitable foundations that would go out of business because of a cure for a major disease? Just like we will never see a cure for all kinds of cancer, or MS, because then people will be out of a job and wont be able to collect money from ppl all in the name of "finding a cure".
Polio is back, actually, thanks to anti-immunization Saudi policies.
I'm not saying it's not a good idea, but it is unlikely to provide solutions for the majority of our planet's infected and at-risk populations.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Your conspiracy theorist is showing.
There are numerous disorders and diseases that can be cured today which could not be even 200 years ago... admittedly, no treatment has 100% success though, nor can it.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
How about showing some self control and not fucking someone within 5 minutes of meeting them? How about getting tests and waiting, and being more responsible. Oh I forgot, that would mean being a grown up.
Pretty sure GP said they can't cure paranoia. ;)
Actually, GP means 'general practitioner'... but close enough. :)
Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
altslashdot.org: The future of slashdot.
So what have they actually developed a CURE for in the past 25 years in America?
Chicken pox. [vaccine.]
HPV. [Vaccine]
hib disease. [Vaccine. OK, 26 years.]
[posting AC because I've been moderating here]
Damnit. I just read on slashdot a week ago that HIV was used for gene therapy to cure leukemia. Now I read that gene therapy will be used to cure HIV. But... but... now how will we cure cancer??
FYI, I'm pretty sure if you post AC you can still mod, but if you mod then post, even as AC, the mods come undone.
if you treat symptoms and stop the infections overpowering your immune system, your immune system generally wins.
therefore developing and administering treatments to symptoms can cure some/most diseases.
By GP he meant "grandparent".
You post.
I reply, I am the child post.
You reply. You are my child post. You are the grandchild post of your first post. That post is your GP or grandparent post.
...but waiting for a bit is not abstinence. The abstinence people say wait till marriage. They even insist you don't jack off. Hell in reality they don't even want you to have sex EVEN if you are married, except to create a baby. FUCK THAT SHIT!
That's not what I'm saying. When I don't have a partner (which honestly has been a lot, as truthfully I'm no catch in the looks department), I jack off like no tomorrow. But for my past partners, when we decided that we wanted to be sexual, we got tests. When it was all clear medically, we fucked like rabbits, minus the litters of progeny. We simply showed some common sense restraint and due diligence.
Doctors do not cure. Not in America. They treat. They can't make a money off of you for as long as you live if they cure you. If they treat you, they can milk you until you die.
Why does something so stupid always modded up to "Insightful?"
The cure means that your patients have a real shot at rebuilding their lives and finances. It means that they will be a candidate for other medical services for perhaps the next half century or more.
The cure opens the door to the understanding and treatment of other diseases.
The cure is elusive. The cure may have side effects. The cure may dangerous. The surgical procedure that a weakened patient may not survive.
The geek doesn't want medicine.
What he wants is magic and miracle at a discount price.
Agreed, this smallpox medicine is costing me a fortune.
A recent story had news about gene therapy being used to cure 2 people of leukemia. The article described how they used an version of HIV to target the right blood cells. Now this article talks about curing HIV after having leukemia - it's a vicious circle!
And all those Polio treatments.
A multiple research groups have targeted CCR5 using gene therapy before. An old (2007) review details the methods a number of groups have been trying including Carl June (you may remember his name from the leukemia story involving the HIV-vector). Building an HIV-Proof Immune System: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/317/5838/612.full
The simplest, and most effective solution would be to infect leukemia patients with HIV and induce leukemia in patients with HIV. It makes perfect sense. What could possibly go wrong?
And leukemia to cure HIV.
(Yeah, that's actually completely wrong because the HIV was cured as a side-effect of the treatment against leukemia. Still, nicely circular.)
http://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/11/1458205/Cancer-Cured-By-HIV
So the cure for leukaemia is HIV, and the cure for HIV is leukaemia?
Sometimes I wish I was a plumber, then I'd know how to deal with other people's shit.
The 60s had nothing on the 20s; and the last decade looks uptight and repressive compared to the 50s.
As counter to modern culture as it may seem, it was well understood how much fun sex was a very long time ago.
In terms of monetizing sex, well that is quite the revolution.....
Unless you get a blood transfusion or share a needle...
If you have a cure then more than a few people would continue doing whatever it was that made them sick in the first place. You've got repeat customers right in the waiting. (I mean why avoid eating fatty foods like bacon if I can just take a pill anytime I get sick.)
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
I dunno how much AIDS scares y’all, but I got a theory: the day they come out with a cure for AIDS, a guaranteed one-shot cure, on that day there’s gonna be fucking in the streets, man.
Or are a victim of a sexual assault. Or suffer a needlestick injury as a doctor treating someone with HIV (or have incidental blood-blood contact through say broken skin). Or if your partner of 10 years cheats on you. Or if the condom fails.
I'm pretty sure you can get around that by using a different browser or something. I've tried that before and it seemed to work.
That patient didn't get 'repeated blood transfusions', he received a bone marrow transplant from a patient who didn't produce CCR5. As far as I understand the bone marrow transplant is WAY more dangerous than living with HIV (at least, in the developed world, with access to proper HIV suppressants). It involves living in a clean room for months while hoping your body doesn't reject the transplant.
So, wait a second. They recently used modified HIV to attack cancer, and now they've possibly cured HIV because of blood transfusions related to treating this guy's leukemia? That's some bizarre kind of symmetry there!
Big Pharma is just waiting until their patents on modified T cells are approved (which it will be). Bonus: they'll sue any marrow donor with this mutation for infringement.
Wow... both a whoosh and a downmod. Tough crowd. Tough crowd.
This is basically just playing around with the mechanisms of natural selection. Left unchecked, HIV would ransack the population of humans until the only ones that lived long enough to reproduce were the ones carrying this "defective" coreceptor.
Eventually, all humans would have the coreceptor mutation and HIV would fall by the wayside.
Now they're just talking about giving the faulty coreceptor to everyone, or so it seems.
So when's the last time you saw someone with polio or smallpox?
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Treatments for such curable conditions are readily available in North America, so the notion that there is some widespread conspiracy to generally withhold any curative treatments from the public carries little weight, and is only fueled by the imaginations of people who selectively focus only on any information they can find which supports their own position, and who have an almost pathological aversion to ever applying Occam's Razor.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
This story keeps being re-posted to /. under new titles every week! WHat is up with that?