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Relapse of "Cured" HIV Patients

Wally

Senior Member
Messages
1,167
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/stor...e-of-cured-hiv-patients-spurs-aids-science-on

Relapse of ‘cured’ HIV patients spurs AIDS science on
By KATE KELLAND, Reuters January 2, 2014 6:41pm

LONDON - Scientists seeking a cure for AIDS say they have been inspired, not crushed, by a major setback in which two HIV positive patients believed to have been cured found the virus re-invading their bodies once more.

True, the news hit hard last month that the so-called "Boston patients"—two men who received bone marrow transplants that appeared to rid them completely of the AIDS-causing virus—had relapsed and gone back onto antiretroviral treatment.

But experts say the disappointment could lay the basis for important leaps forward in the search for a cure. . . .

Scientists are now more convinced than ever that a two-pronged approach which aims to firmly suppress the virus while bolstering the immune system provides the best way forward.

"We need to attack in two ways - reduce the virus to very low levels and also to boost the immune response. We can't do one without the other," . . . .
 

Wally

Senior Member
Messages
1,167
Thanks for sharing the update, Wally.
I have also posted over at the MECFS Forums and I found the question asked about whether or not this could be a reactivation or reinfection was interesting, so I have added in some other citations for reference.

Here is the link to the discussion on MECFS Forums http://www.mecfsforums.com/index.php/topic,18875.0.html
and
if you are not interested in linking directly to that thread. Here is what I wrote.
Quote
"... It seems like an important detail as to whether this [is] a new infection or whether the previous one came out of hiding...."

A good question. Another question that popped into my mind is there just one strain of HIV? I remember reading that they had recently found different strains of Epstein Barr Virus (EBV).

I wonder if it will be important to understand if your body is harboring low levels of the original virus or if the landscape allows for the same type of virus to gain entry again?

By asking this question I am sure that I will be showing my basic science shortcomings, but what is the lifespan of a virus? Does the original variant just keep replicating itself over and over again? Obviously, I need to go back and do some basic virology reading just too tired right now to "school" myself.*

Wally

*Edit: FYI - Here is an article from 1999 that discusses the effect of different variants of EBV on HIV patients.

http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/content/95/7/2443.long

and

the 2013 research article at http://www.cell.com/cell-reports/retrieve/pii/S2211124713005202?cc=y#Discussion
 

Bob

Senior Member
Messages
16,455
Location
England (south coast)
I haven't studied HIV research, and I might be wrong about this, but I've heard that HIV hides in 'reservoirs' in the body (e.g. perhaps lymph tissue?) even when undetectable in the blood. I've heard that eradicating HIV from the reservoirs is the key to a cure. But my knowledge about this is superficial, at best, and I might be regurgitating nonsense.