How the HIV virus helped cure babies with no immune systems -- "bubble babies."
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/doctors-use-hiv-in-gene-therapy-to-fix-bubble-boy-disease/
They were born without a working germ-fighting system, every infection a threat to their lives. Now eight babies with bubble boy disease have had it fixed by a gene therapy made from one of the immune systems worst enemies HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
A study out Wednesday details how scientists turned this enemy virus into a savior, altering it so it couldnt cause disease and then using it to deliver a gene the boys lacked.
This therapy has cured the patients, although it will take more time to see if its a permanent fix, said Dr. Ewelina Mamcarz, one of the study leaders at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital in Memphis.
SNIP
Study results were published by the New England Journal of Medicine. The treatment was pioneered by a St. Jude doctor who recently died, Brian Sorrentino.