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How Did the 'Berlin Patient' Rid Himself of HIV?
sciencehabit writes: Researchers are closer to unraveling the mystery of how Timothy Ray Brown, the only human cured of HIV, defeated the virus, according to a new study. Although the work doesn't provide a definitive answer, it rules out one possible explanation. [R]esearchers point to three different factors that could independently or in combination have rid Brown’s body of HIV. The first is the process of conditioning, in which doctors destroyed Brown’s own immune system with chemotherapy and whole body irradiation to prepare him for his bone marrow transplant. His oncologist, Gero Hütter, who was then with the Free University of Berlin, also took an extra step that he thought might not only cure the leukemia but also help rid Brown’s body of HIV. He found a bone marrow donor who had a rare mutation in a gene that cripples a key receptor on white blood cells the virus uses to establish an infection. (For years, researchers referred to Brown as "the Berlin patient.") The third possibility is his new immune system attacked remnants of his old one that held HIV-infected cells, a process known as graft versus host disease.
Maybe the disease rejected him?
Hot sex with dogs is the cure for HIV!
Although the work doesn't provide a definitive answer, it rules out one possible explanation
...that conditioning by itself likely cannot rid the body of the AIDS virus.
He can't die, you fool, unless his head comes away from his neck.
now that he's outed, expect a seven-foot lunatic with a sword to come after him.
Didn't work for me!
Does the subject possess any mysterious rings, amulets, or lamps?
Does he make sacrifices to chthonic gods, and if so, which?
Did he recently undertake a quest to bring together a collection of ancient magic gems?
Is the hospital frequented by a wizard or a druid cult?
I appreciate the work they did, but when they don't even consider the patient being swapped with his twin from an alternate dimension it's hard to call it rigorous.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
This would ultimately help stop the spread of the disease.
Fuck Bets!!!!!
His acute illness precluded any further contact with African boys or their simian playmates.
His is the drill that will pierce the HIV-ens!
Why does every slashdot article have to be about politicians...oh wait
there are only 2 things here:
1. radiation treatment
2. bone marrow from an x-man
my money is on #2.
Very interesting stuff. The far reaching implications of using this method to fight viral infections is fascinating.
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. -Carl Sagan
According to the summary
Although the work doesn't provide a definitive answer, it rules out one possible explanation. [R]esearchers point to three different factors that could independently or in combination have rid Brown’s body of HIV.
Unfortunately the summary forgets to mention the explanation that was ruled out or even clearly delineate the three different factors (though the latter was more the fault of the original article).
From my reading of TFA:
Explanation 1: Conditioning: The radiation that destroyed his immune system also killed off the HIV (because HIV lives in the cells of the immune system).
Explanation 2: Shiny new immune system: The new bone marrow had a mutation that was immune to HIV and that cured him (maybe by detecting and killing HIV infected cells?).
Explanation 3: Graft vs host: The new immune system killed off his old one, not just the HIV infected cells but all the old immune systems cells including those infected with HIV.
So the researchers took chimps, extracted some stem cells (bone marrow?), infected them with SHIV (Simian HIV), destroyed their immune systems with radiation, then reinjected the uninfected stem cells.
The SHIV quickly came back which rules out explanation 1.
I stole this Sig
Looks like those curses from god just ain't what they used to be. :-)
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Easy. When the virus asked him if he was a god, he finally said "yes."
Everyone can use some aids to help them with their daily lives.
Check pre and post levels of selenium, glutamine, tryptophan and cysteine. You'll find your answer,
People who are serious can find Harold Foster's write up of the biochemistry; also this train of thought was first mentioned in sci.med.aids in 1991 leading to hypotheses of a reversal mechanism in 2007 that seems to work. In a nutshell the virus strips the body of those four molecules because of it's unique (to selenovirii) selenoprotein coat. The catch is these fouls are required for the production of an enzyme that makes the molecule that the immune system uses to kill the virus. That's how it broke the human immune system.
But, these are not uncommon molecules and a cheeseburger and two brazil nuts (they have bear toxic levels of selenium, more than anything else) every day will remediate it according to the BBC interview with the scientist who discovered it although one can obviously be more scientific about it. Point is, some people got HIV and never got AIDS. Why? Blood levels of these three amino acids and one mineral, if sufficiently high, will prevent HIV from progressing into AIDS
Theor wild assed guess sound like snakes and rattles.
There's clinical reports too. Seems to work. It's not really patentable so it may take a while to get into commercial medicine.
Need Mercedes parts ?
Seems like #2 combined with either #1 or #3 is the most obvious answer.
A new immune system that is resistant to the virus combined with getting rid of the old system (either by intentionally destroying it prior to the transplant or by the new cells turning on the old ones) would intuitively seem like the way to deal with an infected immune system.
Without the new system being resistant you'd expect the virus to simply infect the new cells as there should be some virii in the blood streamfor some time even if all the infected cells are destroyed by conditioning, and new vulnerable cells attacking the old vulnerable cells is an obviously flawed way to fight the infection.
Sex with prepubescent children will heal you and dramatically extend your life. It also feels awesome.
HIV inserts itself into his DNA. He carries it.
He still produces HIV but his T cells aren't susceptible to infection (and death) because of the unusual receptor obtained from the bone marrow donor.
This isn't the first time HIV immunity has been recorded.
Please, try being a Pastafarian. I get cursed with a terminal disease at least once before my morning coffee. Considering our vengeful god, it is amazing any of us still alive.
Partially due to above circumstances, on a long enough scale, Pastafarian mortality approaches 100%.
Format the drive and reinstall all your software. Probably takes the same amount of time, too.
I know they are pronouncing him "cured".
That's the funny thing about diseases like HIV.
The simple fact is, it may STILL be in his system. Just, currently, in quantities far too low to be detected.
But, give it a couple years. And out of his blood/bone marrow/organs, it'll come. And it'll multiply into life threatening numbers again.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
"We're going to take out your immune system ... And replace it with a new and improved one. Let's see if anyone notices!"
He fucked a frog.
Stopped taking it up the ass by dozens of total stangers....
And now the story of a wealthy family who lost everything, and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together.
Is it true your god condemns the unfaithful to die moaning in ecstasy, one bite before the end of a plate of pasta in a wine/blue cheese/garlic sauce?
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
What a crock of bullshit, humans are cured of all diseases all the time. The only time its widely publicized is when the 'medical industry' claims to have done it with their big pharma and other unnecessary medical treatments. There are documented cases of hiv positive people, becoming hiv negative without the 'help' of the medical industry as well as many other diseases and conditions. We just don't hear about it, because if everyone knew, the ultimate death sentence would occur to the medical industry - "lack of monetary gain".