Posted on Monday, 13th December 2010 by Brooke Richmond
Matt Harp was elated by the news:
“Tons of hope for people living with HIV,” he said.
Mark has been living with HIV since 1988 and, for the first time, he’s cautiously optimistic about a cure.
Researchers say a patient in Germany proves it’s possible.
“We have this patient in Berlin who develops leukemia gets a (blood stem cell ) transplant from a donor who has genetic anomaly: he lacks CCR5 genes. Turns out CCR5 is the key doorway for HIV to get into the cell,” said Dr. Jacob Lalezari of Quest Research
Four years later, with no other treatment, that patient is HIV-free.
The goal now is to replicate what happened in Berlin, by using gene therapy.
Researchers at Quest Research in San Franciso are removing CCR5 from patients’ genes, replicating those genes and then putting them back.
“Their own T-cells stem cells removing CCR5 and then infusing them is doable,” said Dr. Lalezari.
Without CCR5, the virus can’t infect new cells and goes away.
Matt sees this as his last chance.
“I’ve exhausted all my possibilities for drug treatment,” he said.
Three months into the trial his numbers are improving.
“From the experiment so far my T-cells have doubled my percentage numbers are up everything is going in the right direction”
It’s still much too early to know if this will be a cure.
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Tags: Hiv
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