A Key to a Possible Cure for AIDS Has Been Found

[Briefly]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/health-news/london-hiv-patient-becomes-worlds-second-aids-cure-hope/ar-BBUnjD7

I saw the end of the report on the news so I had to go find it on the internet.  I have to say that I never thought a cure would be found in my lifetime.  I pray that it's real, and that it can be repeated.

Now, I think I'm going to go have a good cry in memory of my friend who died from that awful, awful disease in his early 20's.  Wherever he may be in the universe, I hope he knows.

[SPHASH]

I hope so as a big FUCK YOU to Ronald Reagan and Jesse Helms.

[JustEnough]

Unfortunately it is a small minority of AIDS patients who can benefit from this treatment as it has been done so far, because all of the people who have had it done (which include more people for whom it did not work than the two it has so far) have been patients who had leukemia or lymphoma as well as *just* (there is absolutely nothing *just* about it, but it was the best wording I could think of), AIDS. Obviously not all AIDS patients would fall into this category. 

That being said, it's given researchers more avenues to explore and the hope is that knowledge will lead to more treatments as time goes on.

Even if those avenues do not work though, the fact that two people are living a much different life now with a new prognosis is an amazing miracle of science. When I first read about it the article mentioned it wouldn't be applicable to the majority of people living with AIDS and I didn't understand why until I read a few more articles to get the cancer link part of it. 

I sincerely hope that science is able to find a more universal cure (or at least treatment to bring on full remission) as soon as humanely possible. The lives lost each year are heartbreaking. 

[Gobbles]

(Didn't read the article, but other articles, especially around the Berlin patient.)

Another problem is that a stem cell transplant is not a good option for treatment. Highly dangerous and given that the current medications provide such a good quality of life it wouldn't be an option to use this as a "cure". (For someone who doesn't needs it due to secondary diseases.)

And another thought, even if stem cell transplant would be an option, I guess doing that in many of the countries were HIV is more prevalent is not exactly possible at all. 

[Briefly]

15 hours ago, JustEnough said:

Unfortunately it is a small minority of AIDS patients who can benefit from this treatment as it has been done so far, because all of the people who have had it done (which include more people for whom it did not work than the two it has so far) have been patients who had leukemia or lymphoma as well as *just* (there is absolutely nothing *just* about it, but it was the best wording I could think of), AIDS. Obviously not all AIDS patients would fall into this category. 

That being said, it's given researchers more avenues to explore and the hope is that knowledge will lead to more treatments as time goes on.

Even if those avenues do not work though, the fact that two people are living a much different life now with a new prognosis is an amazing miracle of science. When I first read about it the article mentioned it wouldn't be applicable to the majority of people living with AIDS and I didn't understand why until I read a few more articles to get the cancer link part of it. 

I sincerely hope that science is able to find a more universal cure (or at least treatment to bring on full remission) as soon as humanely possible. The lives lost each year are heartbreaking. 

It has to start somewhere.  I don't necessarily think that everyone is going to be cured by this.  But it is at least a start and is heading in the right direction.  It is such a horrible disease.

[Jigsaw3]

In both cases, the transplant teams deliberately looked for a stem cell donor who had the gene that was resistant to AIDS. They decided that since the stem cell transplant was already indicated, they may as well try to kill two birds with one stone.

Over and above the huge risks of stem cell transplants (it was mentioned that the London patient struggled with graft-vs-host disease, for example) finding a compatible donor with CCR5-delta-32  for everyone with AIDS is not exactly a feasible option.

However, I really hope that this opens up new research avenues and a cure is eventually found. Fingers crossed!

[Bethella]

2 hours ago, Jigsaw3 said:

Over and above the huge risks of stem cell transplants (it was mentioned that the London patient struggled with graft-vs-host disease, for example) finding a compatible donor with CCR5-delta-32  for everyone with AIDS is not exactly a feasible option.

I read an article that said both patients had issues with graft-vs-host disease and that one of the avenues of inquiry is whether that might have played a role in the cure.