Slashdot Mirror
Engineered Stem Cells Seek Out and Kill HIV In Mice
An anonymous reader writes "Expanding on previous research providing proof-of-principle that human stem cells can be genetically engineered into HIV-fighting cells, a team of UCLA researchers have now demonstrated that these cells can actually attack HIV-infected cells in a living organism. From the article: 'This most recent study shows that scientists can manipulate stem cells — immature cells that can develop into any type of cell — by implanting genes, turning it into killer T cells which can kill the virus in living mice. While the mouse form of HIV is not exactly the same as it is in humans, the infection and progression closely mimic the virus in humans, and eliminating it is a huge step forward, researchers said.'"
But if life has to imitate Star Trek, couldn't they have picked a better episode?
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
I knew stem cells had to be good for something.
But when will it help us? I keep hearing about all this cool shit, but it's just so hard waiting for it...
Grow up. Life does not revolve around your needs and any disease (be it cancer, HIV, etc.) that gets attention is better than none at all and sorry that it's not on your terms that it's being researched. Perhaps you should get off your duff and go to college and do some of the research on your own instead of passing blame to someone else.
Then much kudos/applause to the scientists who make this happen. Its about time that the mega-nastiness that is HIV/AIDS becomes curable, and I hope that the disease/virus will hopefully be eradicated completely from this planet some day. (On a slightly sentimental note, it is too bad that thousands of lab-mice/-rats have had to suffer all kinds of pains in various science-labs over the decades, just so that we humans can overcome common diseases. Maybe some lab-rat/lab-mice statues should be errected in a few town squares somewhere, so that we become conscious of where our medical cures come from...)
Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Elon Musk put an AI chip in its head.
What do you mean AIDS gets all the pub? Cancer wins 2:1
...a conspiracy theorist and a catholic walk into a slashdot bar...
This is going to be really popular with the fundamentalists. Using stem cells to oppose God's Will?
....and the Catholic says to the conspiracy theorist "Are you underage?" and he says "No." and the Catholic says "Burn in hell."
Can you prove this? I'd like to know where you got this data, so that I can educate myself if it's a credible source...unless you know for a fact!
There's a great episode of Radiolab ("Patient Zero") that discusses the likely way that HIV came to be. I highly recommend it.
I mean the article isn't very clear but I wouldn't think you'd need embryonic stem cells for this. I'd think a hematopoietic stem cell should work since they're the ones that turn into Killer-T cells. Anyway that's what they're transplanting when they give you a bone marrow transplant. Admittedly bone marrow transplant is basically one of the most dangerous medical procedures they can do to you so hopefully this means they'll be able to do a safer version of this transplant. Hey, any medical researchers here to let us know which kind of stem cell they're talking about?
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
Clearly this shows that Douglas Adams was correct in his view that mice run this world. We can't cure ourselves, but we spend billions trying to cure mice. Can't you people see what's going on here? They have all the best medicine, we're lagging behind by decades!
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
Half of those cancer results are from horoscopes.
we know exactly how to prevent AIDs
And yet there are 34 million people worldwide with HIV, including over 300k children, and the disease is still spreading. You may take that as "Well since it's preventable, I don't have to care" if you wish. The rest of us take that as "Still a major problem to be solved."
Have these UCLA researchers not read I Am Legend?
Go ahead and try to prevent it. Seems pretty tough to do. Let's, while were at it, prevent people from driving drunk, killing others in rage, and war.
People behave as they will behave. Some get HIV in ways that don't involve sex, although these are rare they are statistically significant.
Sex drives people, and they do it unprotected by condoms and common sense. This is who we are. So is cancer. We know a few things that can easily start it. A few things that can prevent it. A few things that cure it.
People still die from either one. Both need a cure. You're absolutely right: still a major problem to be solved.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
You haven't been following nutrition-related developments of late.
A growing stream of evidence is showing that a number of modern-time pathologies (obesity, type-2 diabetese, many if not most types of cancer, and possibly Alzheimer) correlate strongly with an excessive (and still growing) consumption of processed fructose -- aka table sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, candy bars, cakes ice cream, etc.
http://www.uctv.tv/skinny%2Don%2Dobesity/
i'll cure your troll by feeding it...
has it occurred to you that there's many scientists in this world, and most of them work on different things?
if they ALL worked on what you thought was the most worthy cause, there'd be enough redundancy to warrant a big ol rant from you about wasted tax money and why can't they all work on different things...
Cue a comment about Bolivian tree lizards.
There's definitely incredible potential with the ability to engineer natural killer cells, no doubt about it. But I see a simpler and sooner available solution to HIV and other viral disease with DRACOs (altho it maybe only treatable with these in an early stage or as a 'temporary universal vaccine'). DRACOs (Double-stranded RNA Activated Caspase Oligomerizers) are the class of combo ds-DNA detection protein and a programmed cell-death signal protein. The combination makes the cell's automatic suicide process extremely sensitive to viral presence (preventing the cell from hosting viral reproduction). Only invented last year, these are still awaiting human testing, but they do appear to be a miraculously perfect cure/temporary vaccine for apparently ALL viral disease. These are pretty much the most promising looking antiviral drugs ever. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/antiviral-0810.html
I'm pretty sure that
a) the money wasn't spent so anybody could fuck anybody else in the arse, and
b) You're both a homophobe and a moron.
Many guys fuck their girlfriends in the arse, right after moaning about gays who fuck men in the arse. Seems a bit stupid to me, much like you.
1) Homosexuality is a sin.
2) All sexual immorality is a sin.
3) We should still devote money, time and resources to curing AIDS.
4) Hating people is also a sin. So pay attention to #3.
Or more likely Salks Polio vaccine made from known contaminated monkeys in Africa (hey, because its cheaper), given to hundreds of thousands of natives, caused it.
Sorry I got to call BS on this. In fact we have been able to reduce Drunk Driving, domestic murders and other problems through education and social planning.
While I am totally in support of scientific research on AIDS and other diseases of mankind (I sure like money spent on that more than on bombs!), We in fact have known everything we need to greatly mitigate or even stop AIDS for years. Most of the countries that have the worst problem in many cases do because their societies didn't catch the clue train and denied the causes of AIDS. And no, I am not advocating abstinence only solutions.
Denying this is to very bad for society, education and people learning to modify their behavior IS one of our best tools to fight this epidemic at the moment!
.
Part of that same cluetrain is as obvious as the nose on your face. People, even in the town where you live, have sex without condoms.
I live in a college town. Every day of the week, unrelentingly, there are at least a half dozen DUIs. Yet every single student got the same intake video, and most more, about the dangers of drinking and driving.
You can make laws against murder, with hideous penalties, and people will still kill each other. Don't be a fool: the existence of a cluetrain is largely irrelevant as to whether people will jump on, off, or ignore it.
In the case of HIV, many people carrying it have no idea that they're infected, and infecting others; there are some people with DNA that don't get infected by the major strain of HIV. There are those that got transfusions that were tainted. There are those that still give blood not knowing their HIV status.
Education? Important, a clearly important road to knowledge and use of it. Social planning? A great form of education. Together, a powerful weapon. And that weapon flies in the face of erections, drunkenness, a thumbnail of meth, and so forth. Most of the statistical population of HIV+ people will need drugs, and many will have to fight AID, ARC, and a lifetime of guarding against hideous deaths by infection and the side effects of the drugs used to keep T-cell counts high, and virus loads low. This is the cluetrain: as Vonnegut might say, we're all meat humans, and we behave that way. That's not an citation to excuse pernicious behavior; instead, it's a way to help you understand that cluefulness is your gift, and perhaps not the gift of others. The clued-in have a moral obligation to assuage the effects of those that for whatever reasons, entered death row.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
All cynicism aside, I think that this is an interesting article and personally approve of the use of stem cells of any kind if (and only if) it will work towards the improvement in the quality of life to people now and in the future. Call it narrow minded if it helps you to sleep at night, after all, we're all entitled to an opinion. I think that the effect this sort of breakthrough would have on the whole world (lets take a moment to consider countries where HIV and AIDS are a daily concern) far outweighs the moral impliactions that seem to be thrust the subject of stem cell research in the first place. Yes it's a controvesial subject but as with any topic of this nature you will have your far lefts, your far rights, and everybody in between. What a lot of people don't see is the bigger picture. Yes we're working with things we don't yet fully comprehend but that's the whole purpose of science, to take the unknown and test it to gain a better understanding to improve the lives of others. I applaud the research done here and hope that we see similar breakthroughs for things like Cancer and other terminal illnesses in the near future.
all the media articles over the decades related to amazing new discoveries relevant to HIV/AIDS.
99.999% of it would show that none of it has ever panned out, and it's all mostly bullshit.