mane8tuh1 saidI love reading these stories, but have you guys ever noticed that things like this pop up every once in awhile and then you never hear much about them again??? Is it that they are still researching or what?
You just missed the whole point of the article...which IS a follow up on the previous report in which the authors showed that his
"viral replication remained absent despite discontinuation of antiretroviral therapy after transplantation with CCR5{Delta}32/{Delta}32 stem cells."
What was predicted at that time:
"However, it was expected that the long-lived viral reservoir would lead to HIV rebound and disease progression during the process of immune reconstitution."
The new findings that they could not have made without an adequate amount of time is
1. In the present study, we demonstrate successful reconstitution of CD4+ T cells at the systemic level as well as in the gut mucosal immune system following CCR5{Delta}32/{Delta}32 stem cell transplantation, while the patient remains without any sign of HIV infection. This was observed although recovered CD4+ T cells contain a high proportion of activated memory CD4+ T cells, i.e. the preferential targets of HIV, and are susceptible to productive infection with CXCR4-tropic HIV.
2.Furthermore, during the process of immune reconstitution, we found evidence for the replacement of long-lived host tissue cells with donor-derived cells indicating that the size of the viral reservoir has been reduced over time.
Does this belong on the front page? No. It is news nonetheless, and brings up a whole host of other questions for further research, e.g.:
1. Is this going to depend on the particular patient and/or donor? What are those characteristics that allow his outcome (i.e. retention of memory CD4 cells while allowing replacement of long-lived host tissue cells)?
2. Would partial (i.e. nonablative) stem cell transplants with a CCR5-delta donor have a similar but smaller effect?
3. Is this a true cure or just prolonged remission? How small exactly is the viral reservoir over time? Would we find HIV if we were to biopsy some really inaccessible tissue (e.g. brain glial cells)?
Don't quote me on the percentages, but 90% of science is hard work and patience, 10% insight and seredipity.
