Bone Marrow Transplant Eliminates Signs of HIV Infection

[xchrom]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120726153945.htm

ScienceDaily (July 26, 2012) — Two men with longstanding HIV infections no longer have detectable HIV in their blood cells following bone marrow transplants. The virus was easily detected in blood lymphocytes of both men prior to their transplants but became undetectable by eight months post-transplant. The men, who were treated at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), have remained on anti-retroviral therapy.

Their cases will be presented on July 26, 2012 at the International AIDS Conference by Timothy Henrich, MD and Daniel Kuritzkes, MD, physician-researchers in the Division of Infectious Diseases at BWH.

"This gives us some important information," said Dr. Kuritzkes. "It suggests that under the cover of anti-retroviral therapy, the cells that repopulated the patient's immune system appear to be protected from becoming re-infected with HIV."

One patient's bone marrow transplant was two years ago, the other was four years ago. Both were performed at the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center. Over time, as the patients' cells were replaced by donor cells, traces of HIV were lost. Currently, both patients have no detectable HIV DNA or RNA in their blood. The level of HIV antibody, a measure of exposure to HIV, also declined in both men.

[MineralMan]

1. Very good news, and it should help in other ways, too.

While it's unlikely that wholesale bone marrow transplants will take place, due to the high risk of that procedure, this should provide some information that may help a lot in finding other treatments.

[mopinko]

2. perhaps the procedure will be refined.

this also appears to cure autoimmune diseases. i would give anything to put my sister in a wayback machine, and do this before ms had a chance to eat up her brain.
so many, many people would get their lives back.

[MineralMan]

3. It's a tough process to refine.

In the normal situation where a bone marrow transplant is used, the first step is to destroy the existing bone marrow, using radiation or other means. Then, the transplanted bone marrow is introduced. Risks abound during the first step, since it destroys the immune system, and requires serious isolation measures to prevent some infection from killing the patient. The second step also has lots of risk, primarily rejection of the donor bone marrow.

It's such a risky procedure that it is usually used only when the life of the patient is immediately threatened, and as a last resort measure.

That is why MS patients are not routinely offered bone marrow transplants. I have two in-laws with MS, and that has never been suggested to them.

I wish there was a safe way to do a bone marrow transplant. Sadly, there is not, and a good percentage of recipients die from the process. Some are benefited from it, and some are cured, but it's never a routinely-offered treatment, due to the high risk.

The husband of one of my closest friends had one as a treatment for non-hodgkins Lymphoma. He died of an infection before the transplant could be done, despite the isolation protection he had.

[NickB79]

4. The true test would be to discontinue their antiviral treatments and wait

With viral load testing done every month for a year or two.