Risky Treatment May Be Answer for Small Group of HIV Patients
HIV is a virus that attacks the body's immune system cells. As
the virus damages more cells, the body becomes more vulnerable
to infections. CREDIT: © Sebastian Kaulitzki | Dreamstime.com
Last year, doctors in Berlin made an unprecedented announcement:
They declared an HIV patient who had undergone an HIV-resistant
bone marrow transplant to be cured of his disease. Now, doctors
in Texas are hoping to build on that success story by screening
stored umbilical cord blood for HIV-resistant stem cells that
could be transplanted into patients. The treatment would benefit
only a small group of people who have both HIV and certain
cancers, and the chance of finding a suitable genetic match
between stem cells and patients is low. It's also risky – almost
one-third of patients who undergo the bone marrow transplant
procedure die. But the research is part of a wider push to
develop drug-free ways of living with HIV. Drug therapies have
been a godsend for pati