Breaking News: Can a Stem Cell Transplant Cure HIV?

By jtoney on December 16, 2010.

i-77b52526e17fdc52ebb20cad079b2858-Stem_Cells-thumb-494x500-59192.jpg

Adult human breast stem cells (red) are found in ductal regions. Lineage-restricted progenitor cell types (green) reside outside

Scientists based at a medical center in Berlin have accomplished something extraordinary: they have used stem cells to prevent viruses to grow in a patient infected with HIV. This patient had been taking antiviral drugs but discontinued them for the study. Since this patient had been on chemotherapy, the stem cell "transplant" was given to boost his immune system.

Here's the basic idea: A key part of our immune system is comprised of T cells. Some of these immune cells have receptors on their surface that bind to the HIV virus. Without these receptors, the virus cannot enter the immune cell - preventing replication. Think of the classical lock and key model. Infection occurs if both the key (the virus) and the lock (receptor) work properly. Remove or destroy the lock, and the key is useless - so no infection occurs.

Some patients have a natural mutation of these receptors ("CCR5delta32/delta32") that is defective and they are resistant to HIV infection. Stem cells taken from these HIV-resistant patients were transplanted into the immunocompromised patient in Berlin. The result was startling: the transplanted stem cells not only were found systemically (throughout the body), but were found in the patient's gut. This patient has been virus-free for more than two years.

According to the authors:

"...our results strongly suggest that cure of HIV has been achieved in this patient."

Can this stunning result in one patient benefit the millions of immunocompromised HIV patients?

These studies were reported in The Huffington Post and published in the peer-reviewed journal Blood.

Photo source:

Adult human breast stem cells (red) are found in ductal regions. Lineage-restricted progenitor cell types (green) reside outside
ducts in lobules. (JCB 177(1) TOC2)

This image is available to the public to copy, distribute, or display under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Reference: Villadsen et al. (2007) J. Cell Biol. 177:87-101.
Published on: April 9, 2007.
Doi: 10.1083/jcb.200611114.

Read the full article at:
jcb.rupress.org/cgi/content/full/177/1/87.

Tags
Clinical studies
microbiology
Pharmaceutical

More like this

GMO in GMOs used to make GMO cells to treat HIV
You all might have heard about 'delta32' or 'delta-CCR5' people in association with HIV infection. People who naturally, by chance, have deletions and mutations in the CCR5 gene of their DNA dont make functional CCR5 proteins. It doesnt appear to be 'a big deal', and people who have this particular…
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions-- HIV patient gets the one therapy that can cure HIV, dies
This is not, in any way, a 'clean' blog. But I cannot type my genuine reaction to this news: Shift of HIV Tropism in Stem-Cell Transplantation with CCR5 Delta32 Mutation I have not stopped cussing since I heard about this. God dammit, HIV. God DAMMIT. We had ONE THING. ONE THING that WORKED to CURE…
Why do scientists always forget about luck?
You get the data when you get the data, but the information we get from this study would have been useful several years ago: Persistence of Virus Reservoirs in ART-Treated SHIV-Infected Rhesus Macaques after Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant The Berlin Patient-- Guy gets HIV, develops a…
Bone-marrow transplants as a 'cure' for AIDS? II
You still need to file this under "Whoa thats cool! But its not really a realistic solution for the AIDS pandemic". The HIV+ fellow they treated for cancer with bone marrow from a deltaCCR5 donor is still alive and kicking 3.5 years later, and for all intents and purposes, 'cured' of HIV/AIDS.…