Stem Cells end 10 year use of AIDS drugs in Patient

[TWiley]

Stem Cells Cut AIDS Virus in Patient, Ending Need for Drugs
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By Rob Waters

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- A German AIDS patient was able to stop drugs he had been taking for 10 years after getting a transplant of stem cells from a donor with a rare gene variant known to resist the deadly disease. The transplant also cured his leukemia, researchers reported.

The stem cell donor was among the 1 percent of Caucasians who have the variant gene that lacks a section known as CCR5 that helps the AIDS virus enter a cell, according to a report today in the New England Journal of Medicine. Doctors in Berlin hoped that putting the donor’s stem cells in the patient would rebuild his immune system and blood cells so they would lack the CCR5 piece.

The results of the experiment may point researchers to a new way of controlling the AIDS virus HIV that doesn’t force patients to take drugs for the rest of their lives. Scientists will now intensify their search for therapies that achieve the same effect, predicted Jay Levy, a University of California, San Francisco, AIDS researcher.

Full Story Here: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=ac9.rZCRCs8Y&refer=home

[Berry Cool]

1. This is so cool!

I only hope it continues to work.

I was always hoping that those people who were HIV-positive but seemed to be strangely "AIDS-proof" would end up having something useful to teach us or give to us that would help us figure out how to stop the disease in others. And if we can figure out how to stop AIDS and the opportunistic diseases, a vaccine may be possible too. Great day in the morning!

[Control-Z]

2. Always wonderful to hear

about advances in medical research. Sometimes it feels to me like we're on the verge of solving many big medical mysteries, while at the same time facing the biggest threat to us all, global warming.

[Joanne98]

3. Here's the company mentioned in the article..

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=SGMO

[TWiley]

4. kick

I hate to see the heraldo rivera stories overshadow something important