HIV Cure

[flip_flop]

I don't pretend to understand the science involved, but is the treatment the chap in the link went through a viable cure on a mass basis?

[flip_flop]

http://uk.lifestyle.y...n-says-210229529.html

[ummmm]

I would say, no. Bone marrow has to be matched and there are 1,000's on the waiting list already.

[rojash]

"The bone marrow transplant he received carried significant risks and may be fatal to one in five patients who undergo it."
I'd say that's a bit of a no-no.

[jake-the-peg]

I am facinated by the expression //an HIV-resistant donor//

Where do you get one of those then?

[LazyGun]

Not a common find ;)

Theory goes that the commonest strains of HIV make use of CCR5 which is a chemokine receptor on immune response cells, especially T-cells. Those patients who are homozygous for this recessive allele have demonstrated a resistance to HIV.

This is because it is thought that HIV uses the CCR chemokine receptor as a point of entry to the T-cell lymphocytes. Those with the recessive allele dont have this entrypoint.

Since the ccr5 chemokine receptor is an important sensory aid in the T-cells ability to fight infections, it is likely that these rare individuals ( less than 10% of the population) would have a somewhat diminished immune response to more conventional viral/ bacterial challenges.

Bone Marrow Transplantation is a very high risk procedure, leaving the recipient open to all sorts of life threatening complications. Even were CCR5 delta 32 ( the particular mutation that appears to code for HIV resistance) more readily available through, say, lab based cloning, the process of bone marrow transplantation itself would be the limiting factor.

A more favourable approach as a long term preventative medication would be to develop drugs that interfere with the CCR5 receptor pathway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCR5