Report: Transplant may have cured man of AIDS

Getting cured of leukemia and HIV in the same lifetime. He'll have a few stories to tell to his grandchildren.

Anyway, such reports have surfaced over the years, but none of it is reliably enough for widespread use.

They should research and study the gene mutation that confers natural resistance to HIV. Didn't they observe this in an isolated population in Africa?

They should research and study the gene mutation that confers natural resistance to HIV. Didn't they observe this in an isolated population in Africa?

Two populations, one in Africa, one in Northern Europe.

The population in Africa has produced individuals who show total immunity to some strains of the virus and strong resistance to other strains of the virus. I think the most notable indivudal has shown high resistance to the 90 someodd most common strains.

I can not believe that such a complex machine/organism as a human gets shutdown/killed by an simple life as HIV virus. I mean the humans should treat the HIV virus as food: no nutritional value in HIV than it should be disposed of. And this is it. All this scare of being infected is overrated. The HIV virus should adapt and live off some other hosts but humans : we are not HIV food. H

I'll be interested when 10,000 people transplanted get cured of HIV. One example is not a breakthrough (could just be false positives?)

You think there were two years worth of false positives?

I can not believe that such a complex machine/organism as a human gets shutdown/killed by an simple life as HIV virus.

The more complex a system is the easier it is to disrupt, because there are more things that can go wrong.

Take the space shuttle, for example. Something went wrong with it almost every launch, whether it was something very minor that didn't really even matter, or whether it was something catastrophic.

I am glad for this discovery, and I hope that these rare cases can be cross-referenced for common denominators that would lead to a cure.

I can not believe that such a complex machine/organism as a human gets shutdown/killed by an simple life as HIV virus. I mean the humans should treat the HIV virus as food: no nutritional value in HIV than it should be disposed of. And this is it. All this scare of being infected is overrated. The HIV virus should adapt and live off some other hosts but humans : we are not HIV food. H

Put a number two washer in the valve train of your car's transmission and tell me how that simple item works out inside that complex device.

They should research and study the gene mutation that confers natural resistance to HIV. Didn't they observe this in an isolated population in Africa?

Two populations, one in Africa, one in Northern Europe.

The population in Africa has produced individuals who show total immunity to some strains of the virus and strong resistance to other strains of the virus. I think the most notable indivudal has shown high resistance to the 90 someodd most common strains.

Is it possible this is an adaptation?

I can not believe that such a complex machine/organism as a human gets shutdown/killed by an simple life as HIV virus. I mean the humans should treat the HIV virus as food: no nutritional value in HIV than it should be disposed of. And this is it. All this scare of being infected is overrated. The HIV virus should adapt and live off some other hosts but humans : we are not HIV food.

Well, unfortunately, we are food...
http://www.physor...ans.html

Is it possible this is an adaptation?

Depends on what your definition of "adaptation" is. If you mean that this immunity came about because of the virus, I doubt that's what happened. Most likely, it was just random luck that these people's DNA just happened to produce bodies that are good at fighting this virus. But, over many generations, this population in west Africa will likely have an advantage and will likely reproduce more than those that aren't immune, thereby "evolving" the population. The "species" will likely "adapt" over many generations (by the current crop of HIV immune individuals being the ones that repopulate the following generations)... assuming that they continue in the same amount of unprotected, multiple-partner sex they're currently engaging in. For natural selection to occur, the population will have to be continually exposed to the "environmental pressure" of this virus.

The more complex a system is the easier it is to disrupt, because there are more things that can go wrong.

Depends. Some are complex due in part to built-in redundancy like our brains or quantum computers. The shuttle has redundant systems and so these errors did not result in abort or catastrophe. Usually.

I can not believe that such a complex machine/organism as a human gets shutdown/killed by an simple life as HIV virus.

I will tell the humans what you believe. Who will tell the virus?

I'm just the opposite: Bacteria and viruses mutate at 10000x our rate. Why are there any complex animals left? Why can some fast changing infectious disease take us all out?

30% or more of our DNA exists out of left overs from vira.

http://www.nytime...;ei=5087

I do beleive, and it makes sense, that most of our evolution is to thank vira for it.

Who knows maybe we are the virus in the big creature that we call the universe : ) (a serious joke)

reason to utilize induced pluripotent stemcell tech and mass produce the required marrow hopefully with ECM and some plasma jet tools which are utilized for rootcanals a simple piecemeal transplant could offer immunity

It seems that this man had his immune system wiped out and replaced to eliminate his leukemia. This might not be necessary for curing a persons HIV. Couldn't some immune stem cells be harvested and altered genetically to be resistant to HIV. When re-injected the new cells would take over as the HIV wipes out the old immune system. Eventually curing the person. Just a thought.