HIV appears cured after stem cell transplant

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/11/health.hiv.stemcell/index.html#

by dcurtis • 17 years ago

42 12 17 years ago

cnn.com

spoiledtechie• 17 years ago

"About a third of the people die [during such transplants], so it's just too much of a risk,"

Good Luck

swombat• 17 years ago

From the article, they're extremely unwilling to call even that one successful patient "cured", as there are other variants of HIV that will latch on to different receptors.

Sounds like this isn't really big news at all - just one experimental cure that perhaps appears to have worked for one guy but will probably never be used in a widespread manner. Or am I too skeptical?

sc• 17 years ago

  Sounds like this isn't really big news at all ... Or am I too skeptical?

It does seem harder to trust a news source these days for accurate news, but as far as one thing that worked once being news or not: isn't that one definition of what "news" used to be? The discovery of the first _____.

Xichekolas• 17 years ago

I think it's big news. (Possibly) curing HIV in one patient is better than zero patients, so it's a step forward. Given that this line of attack has been shown to work, follow on research might develop something less risky like a gene therapy or something (IANAD, so what I said might sound extremely stupid to those who are).

vinutheraj• 17 years ago

That's what I like about this news, they haven't gone over the top with it .. saying it IS the cure for HIV(though the title is misleading).

The doctor seems cool with saying that it was something experimental that they did and it seems to have worked, but they still are unsure of it, because the virus may be hiding.

All in all they have covered it like a proper scientific story.

Angostura• 17 years ago

I came here to say the same thing, it is a very well written story in my opinion, which manages to be accessible, while at the same time retaining accuracy. Well done Jacquelyne Froeber and the editors who worked on the copy.

As for whether this is a big deal: Yes - in terms of science, although not necessarily a big clinical deal. Other strains may use different receptors, but this is the most common. There is also the mystery question embedded in the story: Why didn't the other strain he was infected woiith rebound

ntoshev• 17 years ago

This story has been on HN before ~3 months (of course it is still news that the patient is well and without any trace of HIV):

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=357144

Also see an earlier speculation by a HN reader that such a cure for HIV would be possible:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47746

zspade• 17 years ago

Yes but FTA: "The case was first reported in November, and the new report is the first official publication of the case in a medical journal."

This lends a lot more credibility to the news.

jmackinn• 17 years ago

This new article is also very misleading with it's inclusion of 'stem cells'. They did a bone marrow transplant, not a stem cell transplant. While there are stem cells (not embryonic stem cells) in bone marrow, calling it a stem cell transplant is incorrect.

froo• 17 years ago

"It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward." - Old Chinese Proverb

akd• 17 years ago

Depends on the length and frequency of the steps, the length of the leaps and stumbles, and the recovery time between a stumble and the next leap.

HIV appears cured after stem cell transplant

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