Is Bone Marrow Cure for HIV?

Everyone knows that that HIV/AIDS is big problem in most parts of the world. In Africa in particular it has reached epidemic proportions. For years researchers have been searching for a cure. In November of 2008 Dr. Gero Huetter, a German hematologist, reported that he had successfully treated a patient with the HIV virus in Berlin. The patient, who was a 42-year-old man who had AIDS for over 20 years, underwent a bone marrow transplant for Leukemia. Afterward he showed no signs of HIV. Dr. Huetter had intentionally used bone marrow containing a genetic mutation making the donor immune to the AIDS virus. The mutation prevents the CCR5 molecule from forming on cells. CCR5 is what allows HIV to enter cells. HIV must bond with CCR5 to infect the cells. The mutation is incredibly rare. Only 1% of people of European decent have the recessive mutation and people of Asian, African, and South American descent almost never inherit it. Bone marrow is where the immune system cells are made, which are the cells HIV target. Dr. Huetter’s theory was that if he could replace the HIV positive bone marrow with the mutated bone marrow, it would make the patient immune to HIV. Since the transplant, the virus has remained undetected in the patient for almost two years. Other researchers believe that its possible that the HIV could still be in the patient’s blood stream, but cannot start an infection because the target cells are immune. They call it a “functional cure”. The biggest problem with it is that this cure depends on a bone marrow transplant, which is very painful and dangerous. Such transplants kill about 30% of patients and are usually only given to those in the late stages of cancer. As a result, this cure will probably never be widely used.

Like many other scientific discoveries, this has been met with skepticism. Some scientists in the field are not convinced and want to se more tests done. There will probably be a lot of trial and error as scientists pursue this research. Relating back to what we have been discussing in class, almost all of Newton’s ideas were also initially met with skepticism. He was coming up with theories that were unheard of at the time, however he ended up changing the world of science. Maybe in the future Dr. Huetter’s discovery will have a great impact, just like Newton.

I think this discovery could have a huge impact on research in the future. Even though at this time it does not seem like a realistic cure fore every HIV patient, the doors have definitely been opened. Hopefully with the help of gene therapy this will become a more viable option.

I was drawn to this article because HIV/AIDS is a growing problem in the world. I think this discovery represents new hope for patients with the HIV virus. This may provide researchers with a new direction, and hopefully they can take the knowledge learned from this discovery and develop a cure that is not such a high risk.

Works Cited

Schoofs, Mark. "A Doctor, a Mutation and a Potential Cure for AIDS - WSJ.com." Business News & Financial News - The Wall Street Journal - WSJ.com. Web. 11 Nov. 2009. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122602394113507555.html.