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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.
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.
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?
IMO he probably still has traces of the virus within his body somewhere, but in such small quantities that it's undetectable. Other viruses are known to do this, such as chickenpox, which can resurface later in the form of shingles if the immune system ever weakens. Except HIV feeds off of the immune system itself, so it's likely he'll never see symptoms of it again.
However it would be unwise for him to do whatever he did to contract it in the first place as he could either spread his to somebody else or contract another variation of the disease that doesn't rely on the same receptor that he is now immune to (and yes, he does fit the "risk category" demographic if you haven't read his history.)
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
Call me old fashioned, but if you know you're HIV+, and have unprotected sex with hundreds of people ... you're an asshole.
I find it hard to believe all of those people have had the benefit of informed consent.
And, for what it's worth, yes, I do know people who are HIV+, and yes, they're gay men.
Stuff like this is what people have been trying to combat.
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.
No but a significant percentage of Europeans are resistant to HIV. Not sure what the news are here, Germans in general should have 25% chance of fighting off an HIV infection.
You're a bit confused. Some Europeans (between 4% and 16%) carry a mutatation that reduces their likelihood of contracting specific HIV strains. The bone marrow donor mentioned in the summary had two copies of this mutated gene, which is a possible contributor to the "cure".