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Lost in the Election Cheering - Not All Bad News for Gays
For those in the Prop 8 doldrums - very interesting development in the fight against AIDS came out in on Nov. 7 - what seems to be a successful gene therapy transplant of AIDS immune bone marrow appears to have cleared a patient of all AIDS symptoms after 600 days.
Oddly enough, the German doctor is not an AIDS specialist, and the treatment was for leukemia, but he took the chance that perhaps a transplant from the 1% of people with an AIDS immune gene would work.
While bone marrow transplants aren’t exactly the simplest procedure to provide, compared to the alternative it’s certainly good news. Here’s hoping it’s not a fluke.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122602394113507555.html
PS - also, a new 50-state strategy for gay rights.
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It's an interesting development for sure. But the notion that the existing bone marrow must be totally destroyed before it can be replaced is pretty daunting. On the other hand, this shows promise for alleviating more than just HIV AIDS and leukemia.
November 15, 2008 7:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe I missed this, but I don't think you're totally destroying existing bone marrow, but introducing some new immune marrow cells. (This technique is used in treating lymphomas to reintroduce healthy cells after the system's been pretty trashed with radiation.)
November 15, 2008 9:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's a link to the article where I saw it mentioned:
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE4AC07O20081113
From the article:
November 16, 2008 5:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Alright, having someone close to me just go through this I should have known better - I had thought that the collection of the stem cells was to augment lowered levels, not to destroy all bone marrow and then to replace - it may be that with lymphoma treatment it's a bit different - not as drastic - since the replacements are coming from the same patient taken prior to radio-chemo treatment, whereas with the AIDS the replacement cells are coming from an immune donor, or maybe it's the exact same, just that the AIDS case needs safe donor cells to replenish the bone marrow.
http://rarediseases.about.com/od/rarediseasesb/a/bmt05.htm
But no, not coming to a pharmacy near you anytime soon.
November 16, 2008 5:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Please, while those of us in the GLBT community often lead the fight against HIV/AIDS, it is not exclusively a "gay" condition as your headline suggests.
I know you didn't mean to reinforce such connotations, but I have a straight friend who was ostracised for being gay after contracting HIV from his female partner..
November 16, 2008 7:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry, but it's primarily a gay condition, and so that's how I address it.
November 16, 2008 10:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
According to the World Health Organization (WHO):
Gay condition my ass.
November 17, 2008 2:58 AM | Reply | Permalink