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A Third Person May Have Been Cured of HIV (newscientist.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the more-the-merrier dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from New Scientist: Following news of a man in the UK who has been free of HIV since his cancer treatment, a similar case has been reported by researchers who treated a patient in Germany. Together, they add to evidence that it may be possible to cure HIV. The virus infects cells of the immune system, which are made in the bone marrow. A man known as the "Berlin patient" was the first person to become HIV-free after cancer treatment, back in 2007. To treat his leukemia -- a cancer of the immune system -- he was given a treatment that involved killing nearly all his immune cells with radiotherapy or drugs, and then replacing them with cells from a donor. This donor was naturally resistant to HIV, thanks to a rare but natural mutation in a gene called CCR5.

A possible third case was then announced today, at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle. Biopsies from the gut and lymph nodes of this "Dusseldorf patient" show no infectious HIV after three months off antiviral drugs -- only old fragments of viral genes that wouldn't be able to multiply, says Annemarie Wensing of University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, who worked on this case. This is just like the Berlin and London patients, she says. Researchers are tracking the few other people who have HIV and have then had a bone marrow transplant from someone with the CCR5 mutation in a collaboration called IciStem. As well as the three reported so far, there are two others who haven't yet stopped taking antiviral medications, says Javier Martinez-Picado of the IrsiCaixa AIDS Research Institute in Barcelona.

47 comments

  1. Re: Prevention is better than cure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is hope for millenial bath house tramp BeauHD after all!

  2. Re: Prevention is better than cure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Literally cured? I hear a lot of hand waving and qualifiers on this article

  3. Simply... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    fabulous, darling!!!!

    CAP === 'counters'

  4. Exponential grows of cured HIV patients? by SurenEnfiajyan · · Score: 1

    Recently the second patient was cured.

    1. Re:Exponential grows of cured HIV patients? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I suspect that they tried the same technique on a number of patients around the same time, this is just them confirming each one.

    2. Re:Exponential grows of cured HIV patients? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

      Recently the second patient was cured.

      Hopefully there will be more and more as time goes by- but this doesn't seem to be a technique that can be done en masse yet.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    3. Re:Exponential grows of cured HIV patients? by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

      Yes, but it occurs to me that if sexual revolutionaries want to continue their lifestyle of ignoring sexually transmitted diseases, the least they could do is a kickstarter for a specialized hospital that finds cures like this one.

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    4. Re:Exponential grows of cured HIV patients? by LordHighExecutioner · · Score: 1

      obligatory xkcd quote.

    5. Re:Exponential grows of cured HIV patients? by LordHighExecutioner · · Score: 1

      Sigh....wrong html code! Here it is...
      obligatory xkcd quote.

    6. Re:Exponential grows of cured HIV patients? by brcmrgn · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I had a bone marrow transplant in 2000 for Leukemia. My donor had no allergies and a different blood type and now, so do I. The no allergies was a nice benefit, but I wouldn't recommend a bone marrow transplant unless there is no alternative. At the time, one-year survival odds were about 60%. The process has improved, but there are still lots of ways to not survive a BMT. I was off work for 6 months and it wasn't until 2 years after the transplant that I could work 40 hours every week. It took 4 years for me to wean off of steroids. I am still living with side effects of the chemo and radiation user to kill my bone marrow -- Cataracts and type-2 diabetes are common side effects.

    7. Re:Exponential grows of cured HIV patients? by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

      Given that the first presumed cure was around 12 years, and the second was a few days ago, the world should be HIV-free by the time I get off work.

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
    8. Re:Exponential grows of cured HIV patients? by SurenEnfiajyan · · Score: 1

      I didn't mean e to the power of x, you took it too literally.

    9. Re: Exponential grows of cured HIV patients? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fuck off, Jesus Christ you sound bitter. Someone ass rape you?

      First one to scream mahhhhh rights. But if someone else is practicing their rights, you flip the switch.

      Fuck off, you care about you, nobody else.

    10. Re:Exponential grows of cured HIV patients? by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

      I suspect this is just random chance. Although there are no hard figures for the number of people with HIV, there are WHO estimates in the 50-100 million range. Three cured out of 50 million is just chance, there happened to be some combination of their genes and their history and the environment and whatever else that made it work.

      I'll treat it as an actual cure when 10,000 have been cured.

    11. Re: Exponential grows of cured HIV patients? by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

      Someone ass rape you?
       
      Yes and I knifed them for it.
       
      Let them practice their rights- but let them also pay for the consequences. When I practice my rights, I pay for the consequence of practicing those rights, why shouldn't they?

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    12. Re:Exponential grows of cured HIV patients? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but it occurs to me that if sexual revolutionaries want to continue their lifestyle of ignoring sexually transmitted diseases

      You're mistaken. STDs like HIV spread usually due to lack of protection. Being sexually active is fine as long as you're careful about it.

      This is why despite how the West being more sexually liberal, they are not the places hit the hardest by HIV or STDs. No, the worst of it is in Africa, where religion and tribalism has played a big role in creating an environment where:

      -people are discouraged to use any kind of protection or family planning, because we can't be killing any babies (giving them STDs through the mother is ok though)
      -chastity is emphasized over education, so the kids (and maybe adults too) are left pretty ignorant about sex and the consequences (it's easy for you and I to talk about facing consequences of our own actions - we're educated in the secular western tradition that isn't afraid to teach us this stuff; other people aren't so fortunate)
      -sexual liberty is heavily stigmatized, discouraging people from coming out when they are infected; the disease is left untreated and spread further.
      -superstition about STDs amplify the above, injecting a lot of misinformation

  5. What does that mean for humanity? by Kokuyo · · Score: 1

    Is the killing of the current immune system necessary for bone marrow transplantations to work? Or for HIV to be cured?

    Either way, how dangerous and intrusive is the process and what does it cost?

    In effect, is this or is this not a method that is viable to eradicate the virus in this species? It sounds too complicated a procedure for that.

    1. Re:What does that mean for humanity? by guruevi · · Score: 3, Informative

      For most organ transplants you need to kill or suppress the immune response. This is a very dangerous procedure, HIV suppressants exist and are arguably safer. This also includes a surgery for the marrow transplant, risks exist for both the donor and receiver.

      It's pretty costly and won't become the mainstream for curing HIV since you need a very specific set of donors and the pool of sick people is simply too large. These are happy accidents that come with curing something else (eg cancer) and give researchers a pathway to look down at but not a fix that will be on the market tomorrow.

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    2. Re:What does that mean for humanity? by Kokuyo · · Score: 1

      Thank you, that was the impression I had as well.

    3. Re:What does that mean for humanity? by andydread · · Score: 1

      The Delta32 mutation of the CCR5 gene causes resistance to HIV and other plagues such as the Black Death. It occurs naturally in some people as a result of selection pressure of the plagues. Even though the methods used here to cure HIV are rather costly and dangerous and won't become mainstream, what it shows is that the Delta32 mutation of CCR5 gene not only provides resistance to HIV by turning of a receptor that the virus needs to attach to the cell in order to infect the host but also cures it outright. What that means is that a much safer cure can possibly be targeted along this path.

    4. Re: What does that mean for humanity? by Code+Herder · · Score: 1

      The current method is much, much more dangerous than tri therapy no question about it. Last time I checked someone with HIV had the life expectancy of someone with diabetes so youâ(TM)ll get to grow old etc. Current treatment is so good thst often your levels are so low in your blood that its not clear if youâ(TM)re still contagious.

  6. Don't get too excited... by SD+NFN+STM · · Score: 2

    The "cure" involves full-body irradiation to destroy the immune system, and then a bone-marrow transplant from someone that's HIV resistant. In general, these cures have been a side-effect of someone battling pretty serious cancer.

    1. Re:Don't get too excited... by Nidi62 · · Score: 2

      The "cure" involves full-body irradiation to destroy the immune system, and then a bone-marrow transplant from someone that's HIV resistant. In general, these cures have been a side-effect of someone battling pretty serious cancer.

      If it turns out there is pretty good evidence that this treatment works, it may lead to funding for research into less invasive but equally effective treatments.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    2. Re:Don't get too excited... by Gilgaron · · Score: 1

      It works because the new cells don't have the receptor the virus uses... it is like if you had nose cancer, and we grafted a new nose on that lacked nostrils. Now you can't get the common cold! But it doesn't map to widespread treatment because you don't want to graft new noses onto everyone. You can't nuke that receptor in other people otherwise, because they'll constantly grow new immune cells from their marrow that have them. And without looking it up, there's whatever this receptor normally does that it won't in people with either the mutation or treatment (e.g. you can't smell with your new nostrilless nose graft).

  7. of course... by racerex · · Score: 0

    Of course it's possible to cure HIV... just ask Magic Johnson.

  8. CRISPR by fadethepolice · · Score: 2

    So, can we just remove some bone marrow stem cells from someone, snip in the CCR5 Gene and, put the stem cells back in to cure HIV? This is very interesting as it is a medical procedure that would not need FDA Approval, and would have a huge impact on the bottom line of many drug companies. I'm getting some popcorn. to see hwo this plays out.

    1. Re:CRISPR by Gilgaron · · Score: 3, Informative

      Well you also need to kill off all of their original marrow. And, while I looked it up briefly and its role isn't fully understood, it is likely that those with the novel CCR5 gene are more susceptible to flavivirus infection while being resistant to HIV and pox viruses. The immune system isn't really set up to allow quick firmware updates.

    2. Re:CRISPR by r2kordmaa · · Score: 1

      In principle yes, in practice naive use of CRISPR to do gene editing on an adult organism results in cancers sprouting up like weeds all over the place. CRISPR is better than previous methods, but it's still not perfect. You can gene edit a designer baby that is immune to HIV. But to take an adult patient and 'fix' his genes... not so much. Not yet anyway

    3. Re: CRISPR by Code+Herder · · Score: 1

      To be fair last time I checked they think it might increase risks of future cancer. Its not a 100% clear yet, itâ(TM)s not like we have a ton of experience with it yet

    4. Re: CRISPR by Code+Herder · · Score: 1

      Yeah its only some gene editing methods with crispr that could potentially cause cancer : https://www.scientificamerican...

    5. Re:CRISPR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah. Once you get the magic technology of growing tissues like bone marrow from stem cells figured out. Which, turns out, is not quite as easy as sci-fi writers would have you believe, and we actually have no idea at all on how to do that yet. Who would have thought. Must be a big pharma conspiracy.

    6. Re:CRISPR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In principle yes, in practice naive use of CRISPR to do gene editing on an adult organism results in cancers sprouting up like weeds all over the place. CRISPR is better than previous methods, but it's still not perfect. You can gene edit a designer baby that is immune to HIV. But to take an adult patient and 'fix' his genes... not so much. Not yet anyway

      NO. You cannot do this, not even with designer babies. The guy who did that in China did against every ethical boundary in science and is currently under house arrest in China and his career in science is finished.

      The problem with CRISPR is that it's a biological process that's been appropriated by scientists. It is specifically a protein/DNA complex used by single-cell organisms to defend against invasive viral attackers. In nature, it's very optimized to fight off foreign RNA and DNA from viruses trying to insert themselves into the bacteria's DNA. Since it's optimized for that, it is NOT optimized to be specific. Studies show that gene editing with CRISPR-Cas9 has a >50% chance of off-target effects when used with gene editing, particularly with human genomes as the viral genomes they're designed to fight range between 2,000 to 2,000,000 basepairs, whereas the human genome is 3,000,000,000 base pairs. There is no technically effective or cost-effective method of quality control, and it is unlikely one will come about any time soon.

      https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S216225311630049X

      CRISPR as a form of gene editing to design people is the equivalent of taking a drug to cure a disease that might kill you in a way completely uncontrollable way more than 50% of the time. Russian Roulette has better odds.

    7. Re:CRISPR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is highly suggestive. There have been suggestions about where the viral reservoir for HIV was located, for years. Even patients under active treatment, with no measurable HIV viral load, for years. If they stopped treatment the disease always came back.

      I heard suggestions that the viral reservoir might be the eyes, the brain, bone marrow. If this pans out then it's essentially proof that the hiding place of HIV was in the immune system, specifically the bone marrow.

  9. HMMMM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pharma companies are shaking in their boots with this one.. imagine the loss of revenue they'll face if someone finds a real repeatable "cure" for HIV.

    1. Re:HMMMM by hipp5 · · Score: 1

      Oh fuck off with your conspiracy theory bullshit.

    2. Re:HMMMM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pharma companies are shaking in their boots with this one.. imagine the loss of revenue they'll face if someone finds a real repeatable "cure" for HIV.

      That's the stupidest conspiracy theory in the world.

      Do you know how many diseases have been eradicated in all of human history? One, small pox. A cure will sell like crazy, and will continuously sell because people will continue to get the disease and people would prefer to buy the cure vs. a treatment. A pharma company selling a treatment is the best one to develop a cure because they know the most about the biology, and their sales would go up like crazy if a cure was developed.

      Besides, even if HIV was cured globally it doesn't affect pharma at all. There's 10,000 more diseases to work on and new ones cropping up. There are plenty of opportunities out there.

    3. Re: HMMMM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The sad part is, he is right. They've shown us over and over again that profit > *

  10. A Third implies a First and Second by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't know how a "third" person has been "cured" when exactly zero people are known to have been cured of HIV so far. Unfortunately there is no way of knowing if someone is actually cured of the virus.

    I think it's extremely haughty and dangerous to think that we've discovered a cure, rather than simply something that is potentially a really good and effective treatment of symptoms for those who are HIV+.

    HIV+ people who receive this treatment and are thought to be cleared should still act like people who are HIV+, and not have unprotected sex, ever, and not engage in other activities that might spread the virus to other people.

    The last thing we need is for HIV in someone with this treatment to discover a way around it, and have a strain of HIV start going around that is not dependent upon CCR5.

    1. Re:A Third implies a First and Second by johnsie · · Score: 1

      You're always seeing the bright side of things

  11. Billions Spent... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...so that Men can fuck other Men up the ass with impunity.

    MM Sex is STILL the primary infection vector of HIV and men account for the majority of new cases every year.

    Just say No to buttsex with a dude.

  12. Re: Prevention is better than cure by Seewhatidonehere · · Score: 0

    Lol

  13. A little premature by k2r · · Score: 1

    it currently more like âzPerson receiving leg transplant after stepping on landmine was cured of athletes foot !!!âoe

  14. Re:Prevention is better than cure by Darinbob · · Score: 1

    HIV also affects people who do not engage in risky behavior, but you should have known this for a few decades now.

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