Contolling HIV without Drugs

[nekofox]

http://blog.adam4adam.com/2014/03/health-scientists-may-have-discovered-a-way-to-control-hiv-without-drugs/

Just saw this blog post from A4A, and this is really getting interesting. With the way it's keeping it under control, we'll have to wait and see the exact way it's going and hope for the best for those who need an alternative to most medications.

[Guest JizzDumpWI]

Thanks for posting this. I would have missed it. Nice to see research beyond drugs continues....

[mike43]

thanks for posting very interesting

[bearbandit]

Interesting, but I'm not holding my breath. I've seen far too many "cures" in the past thirty or so years. Wonderful if they, erm, pull it off, but this is just the first step down this road. Be aware of it, check it out every now out then for changed content, but it's way too early to get excited yet.

[wood]

Interesting, but I'm not holding my breath. I've seen far too many "cures" in the past thirty or so years. Wonderful if they, erm, pull it off, but this is just the first step down this road. Be aware of it, check it out every now out then for changed content, but it's way too early to get excited yet.

Yeah I feel the same way. I see gene based therapy offering huge potential, I just dont think this technique sounds that promising.

From the article:

Four weeks later, in a planned interruption of anti-HIV therapy, half the study participants stopped taking their antiretroviral drugs for 8 to 12 weeks. Investigators found that the experimental treatment was generally safe, and that the genetically modified cells appeared to be protected from HIV infection. In one volunteer who naturally had the desired mutation in half of his CCR5 genes, HIV replication was controlled during the entire 12-week treatment interruption.

So only one volunteer who already had a CCR5 mutation was able to control HIV for the 12 week study? Sorry but that seems more like a failure to me. I understand it may be a stepping stone, but I cant see how the initial study would be deemed successful if non of the other volunteers were able to control their infection.

[nekofox]

Yeah I feel the same way. I see gene based therapy offering huge potential, I just dont think this technique sounds that promising.

From the article:

So only one volunteer who already had a CCR5 mutation was able to control HIV for the 12 week study? Sorry but that seems more like a failure to me. I understand it may be a stepping stone, but I cant see how the initial study would be deemed successful if non of the other volunteers were able to control their infection.

True enough for that. It's part of my saying "wait and see". After all the times we've "had a cure" like bearbandit said, it shows that they're doing what they can, but ultimately, it keeps failing. So, at least with this little bit of discovery, that's something, so we'll definitely have to keep tabs and see if there's a glimmer in this situation, or if it's another bust. Hopefully the former.

[AlwaysOpen]

I recall a concept that floated up in the late 80's for treating AIDS- the idea was that the virus was fragile, and all you had to do was circulate a patients blood through a heater and warm it to 105 degrees F and then return it to the patient via another IV line and it would be cleared of all HIV. Um, it is 2014, and I don't see clinics for free HIV testing set up with heaters and IV lines anywhere- great idea if it worked, but it was a pipe dream ( and probably a huge research grant expenditure for NIH)

[Poz1956]

I'm one of the guys with a naturally occurring CCR5 Delta 32 mutation. It's probably why I survived all the pre ARV years.

If I'd gotten the gene from both parents I'd actually have been immune to HIV.

Now if they could stimulate the body to produce only mutated CD4 cells, that would be a huge step. Effectively that gene therapy would be equivalent to a vaccine.

I remember the blood heating idea too. But it never made any logical sense. Before there was treatment, lots of guys had high fevers from various OI's and it didn't kill off the virus.

After too long of a "drug holiday" in the early 2000's, just at the point where I returned to the treatment, I came down with a pneumonia (not PCP or other HIV related OI). I had a CD4 of 89, and a fever of 104. If 104 killed them off, I'd be free of these little buggers. But sadly their still swimming around inside me.