| ■ Bone Marrow Transplant Cures AIDS Patient: Report | 2008.11.18 |
| A targeted bone marrow transplant normally used to treat leukemia appears to have cured an AIDS patient, according to German doctors. Twenty months after receiving the transplant, tests on bone marrow, blood and other organ tissues indicate the 42-year-old patient no longer has HIV infection, the Associated Press reported. The patient had been infected with HIV for more than a decade. For the transplant, doctors at Berlin's Charite Hospital selected a donor with a mutation called Delta 32, which prevents HIV from attaching itself to cells by blocking a receptor called CCR5. About one in 1,000 Europeans and Americans have inherited the mutation from both parents, the AP said. There have been a few previous reports of the successful use of bone marrow transplants to eradicate HIV infection. But bone marrow transplants are too costly and dangerous to use as a first line treatment for HIV/AIDS, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the AP. However, this case could inspire efforts to pursue gene therapy as a way to block or suppress HIV, he said. |