In chapter 1 I was interested by HIV treatments and what kind of things they are trying now besides the drug "cocktails." The textbook doesn't go into much detail besides the combination of drugs treatment and I figured I would see what other ways they may be trying to treat HIV. I found that there is actually one case where a patient was cured of HIV and no longer has to take antiretroviral drugs anymore either. The patient received a bone marrow transplant for his acute myeloid leukemia. The donor for the transplant had a genetic mutation that didn't allow HIV to enter the cell; the article didn't say what mutation it was but it could be the delta 32 mutation we learned about. That patient, who lives in Berlin, is the only one who was "cured" of the disease and was able to stop taking medication; however, there are two other cases where bone marrow transplants have reduced HIV to undetectable amounts. The two men received transplants trying to see if the HIV could be removed from their plasma, but the doctors were surprised to find that there were also no traces of the virus in their cells. These men still remain on antiretroviral medication and treatments and the doctors are still searching for traces of HIV in the patient's tissues.
The fact that bone marrow transplants have showed some positive outcomes is interesting, but a transplant like that is both difficult and dangerous. Luckily there are still other ways that people are looking to combat HIV. Another group of researchers are looking at histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDIs) and psycho-stimulant drugs like cocaine. These drugs and HDIs can both control gene expression by way of altering chromatin structure in DNA. The HDIs in a way force out dormant HIV viruses that can be hiding in the body. They believe that the psych-stimulant drugs can act the same way and ultimately the two can be used to possibly find a cure for HIV.
For more information regarding this check these sites out:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120921124633.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120726153945.htmhttp://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/27/news/la-heb-hiv-cure-aids-meeting-20120727
I'm glad that someone kinda found a cure for HIV. Or maybe treatment is a better word for it. So have they tried this with other patients? After reading your post, I did some research to see if any other infected hosts tried this method of treatment and did not find anything. Which is weird to me. If HIV is one of the leading diseases killing off mankind then why is no one else trying this treatment? If I was a smart scientist I would be focusing on finding a better cure. Cause then I would be rich. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteI think the main reason more people haven't tried this treatment is because of the research still being done to see just how effective it is. Another reason would be the risk associated with the treatment both for the person who was receiving the transplant but also for the doctors doing the surgery because of the risk of contracting the infection.
ReplyDelete