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发帖数: 2153 | 1 German researchers believe they have cured a man of HIV by using a stem cell
transplant.
Timothy Ray Brown, 42, was also being treated for acute myeloid leukaemia –
a cancer of the immune system. Three and a half years later, he apparently
shows no sign of either disease.He stopped taking HIV medication and was
given the stem cell transplant in February 2007. He also underwent high-dose
chemotherapy and radiation treatment, which wiped out his immune system.
Mr Brown received another round of treatment and a new stem cell transplant
from the same donor just over a year later, when his leukaemia relapsed.
Researchers at Charite-University Medicine Berlin said that the donor’s
stem cells had a rare inherited genetic mutation that made them resistant to
HIV infection.
It was expected that his HIV would return but this has not happened yet.Dr
Gero Huetter, a hematologist and professor at the University of Heidelberg,
and a co-author of the new paper, told Deutsche Welle: “We weren’t able to
find HIV in his cells. The new cells have a natural resistance against HIV.”
The study, published in the journal Blood, said his immune system has
returned to normal health and concluded: “Our results strongly suggest that
cure of HIV has been achieved in this patient.”
However, HIV experts said that while the results were promising, they did
not represent a potential cure for all patients.
Dr Michael Saag, professor of medicine and director of the University of
Alabama at Birmingham AIDS Center, told CNN: “This probably is a cure, but
it comes at a bit of a price.”
“For him to receive the donor cells, his body had to have all of his immune
system wiped out. . . . The Catch-22 here is that the best candidates for a
cure, ideally, are people who are healthy.”
”I would call this a functional cure,” Dr Margaret Fischl, an AIDS
researcher at the University of Miami, told the Brisbane Times.
”It’s on the level and a very remarkable case. But would we do this with
an HIV patient? No.”
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/12/15/researchers-cure-man-of-hiv/ |
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