Cure for HIV?

Whilst searching the net for information on stem cell transplantation I came across this article.

Stem cells and HIV

Yes, by all accounts this man has been cured of HIV!  However, there is a down side.  Only 1 - 3% of all people of European descent carry the CCR5 delta 32 mutation.  Those people then need to consent to donation and be healthy enough to donate.  Do the math, there are far more people with HIV.  There is also the compatibility issue.

The second point to note is that to put a patient through a very risky and life threatening procedure is unethical, seeing as the quality of life and longevity are almost normal with the anti-viral out on the market now.  As the experts say, "HIV no longer has to be a death sentence".

Still, a cure would be nice.  In this case the patient was treated for leukemia, they just managed to find a transplant donor with the delta 32 mutation, and this gives us a valuable research tool.  We already have drugs that attack individual proteins on the surface of cells.  For example, a drug I am researching for my CIDP, rituximab attacks the protein CD20, hopefully destroying the cells that cause my neuropathy.

So it is probably only a matter of time before they develop a drug to attack CCR5.  Seeing as this article is 2 years old, and the Berlin Patient was treated 4 years ago, that cure may be closer than you think.  Stay Well:)