Author Topic: Re: Notes for Janice!!  (Read 439198 times)

injest

  • Guest
Re: Notes for Janice!!
« on: January 01, 2008, 11:14:44 am »

         Yes I am here.  I am not sure how much of a blessing that is.. but there you are...

   Thanks Jack and Kelda.  Hi to you too...that was very sweet.



  My grandaughter has pointed out this article on the internet.  I thought I would post it
for those of you who are interest, or dont already know more about it, than I do.

    ????????                        CURE FOR AIDS?                  ????????????
             By MARK SCHOOFS


The startling case of an AIDS patient who underwent a bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia is stirring new hope that gene-therapy strategies on the far edges of AIDS research might someday cure the disease.

The patient, a 42-year-old American living in Berlin, is still recovering from his leukemia therapy, but he appears to have won his battle with AIDS. Doctors have not been able to detect the virus in his blood for more than 600 days, despite his having ceased all conventional AIDS medication. Normally when a patient stops taking AIDS drugs, the virus stampedes through the body within weeks, or days.
[Dr. Gero Hutter] Sixten Koerper

Dr. Gero Hütter isn't an AIDS specialist, but he 'functionally cured' a patient, who shows no sign of the disease.

"I was very surprised," said the doctor, Gero Hütter.

The breakthrough appears to be that Dr. Hütter, a soft-spoken hematologist who isn't an AIDS specialist, deliberately replaced the patient's bone marrow cells with those from a donor who has a naturally occurring genetic mutation that renders his cells immune to almost all strains of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The development suggests a potential new therapeutic avenue and comes as the search for a cure has adopted new urgency. Many fear that current AIDS drugs aren't sustainable. Known as antiretrovirals, the medications prevent the virus from replicating but must be taken every day for life and are expensive for poor countries where the disease runs rampant. Last year, AIDS killed two million people; 2.7 million more contracted the virus, so treatment costs will keep ballooning.

While cautioning that the Berlin case could be a fluke, David Baltimore, who won a Nobel prize for his research on tumor viruses, deemed it "a very good sign" and a virtual "proof of principle" for gene-therapy approaches. Dr. Baltimore and his colleague, University of California at Los Angeles researcher Irvin Chen, have developed a gene therapy strategy against HIV that works in a similar way to the Berlin case. Drs. Baltimore and Chen have formed a private company to develop the therapy.

Back in 1996, when "cocktails" of antiretroviral drugs were proved effective, some researchers proposed that all cells harboring HIV might eventually die off, leading to eradication of HIV from the body -- in short, a cure. Those hopes foundered on the discovery that HIV, which integrates itself into a patient's own DNA, hides in so-called "sanctuary cells," where it lies dormant yet remains capable of reigniting an infection.

But that same year, researchers discovered that some gay men astonishingly remained uninfected despite engaging in very risky sex with as many as hundreds of partners. These men had inherited a mutation from both their parents that made them virtually immune to HIV.

The mutation prevents a molecule called CCR5 from appearing on the surface of cells. CCR5 acts as a kind of door for the virus. Since most HIV strains must bind to CCR5 to enter cells, the mutation bars the virus from entering. A new AIDS drug, Selzentry, made by Pfizer Inc., doesn't attack HIV itself but works by blocking CCR5.

About 1% of Europeans, and even more in northern Europe, inherit the CCR5 mutation from both parents. People of African, Asian and South American descent almost never carry it.

Dr. Hütter, 39, remembered this research when his American leukemia patient failed first-line chemotherapy in 2006. He was treating the patient at Berlin's Charité Medical University, the same institution where German physician Robert Koch performed some of his groundbreaking research on infectious diseases in the 19th century. Dr. Hütter scoured research on CCR5 and
About 1% of Europeans, and even more in northern Europe, inherit the CCR5 mutation from both parents. People of African, Asian and South American descent almost never carry it.

Dr. Hütter, 39, remembered this research when his American leukemia patient failed first-line chemotherapy in 2006. He was treating the patient at Berlin's Charité Medical University, the same institution where German physician Robert Koch performed some of his groundbreaking research on infectious diseases in the 19th century. Dr. Hütter scoured research on CCR5 and consulted with his superiors.

Finally, he recommended standard second-line treatment: a bone marrow transplant -- but from a donor who had inherited the CCR5 mutation from both parents. Bone marrow is where immune-system cells are generated, so transplanting mutant bone-marrow cells would render the patient immune to HIV into perpetuity, at least in theory.

There were a total of 80 compatible blood donors living in Germany. Luckily, on the 61st sample he tested, Dr. Hütter's colleague Daniel Nowak found one with the mutation from both parents.

To prepare for the transplant, Dr. Hütter first administered a standard regimen of powerful drugs and radiation to kill the patient's own bone marrow cells and many immune-system cells. This procedure, lethal to many cells that harbor HIV, may have helped the treatment succeed.

The transplant specialists ordered the patient to stop taking his AIDS drugs when they transfused the donor cells, because they feared the powerful drugs might undermine the cells'
ability to survive in their new host. They planned to resume the drugs once HIV re-emerged in the blood.

But it never did. Nearly two years later, standard tests haven't detected virus in his blood, or in the brain and rectal tissues where it often hides.

The case was presented to scientists earlier this year at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. In September, the nonprofit Foundation for AIDS Research, or amFAR, convened a small scientific meeting on the case. Most researchers there believed some HIV still lurks in the patient but that it can't ignite a raging infection, most likely because its target cells are invulnerable mutants. The scientists agreed that the patient is "functionally cured."

Caveats are legion. If enough time passes, the extraordinarily protean HIV might evolve to overcome the mutant cells' invulnerability. Blocking CCR5 might have side effects: A study suggests that people with the mutation are more likely to die from West Nile virus. Most worrisome: The transplant treatment itself, given only to late-stage cancer patients, kills up to 30% of patients. While scientists are drawing up research protocols to try this approach on other leukemia and lymphoma patients, they know it will never be widely used to treat AIDS because of the mortality risk.

The
« Last Edit: November 15, 2010, 04:47:07 am by ifyoucantfixit »

Offline ifyoucantfixit

  • Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 8,049
Re: Notes for Janice!!
« Reply #1 on: January 01, 2008, 11:34:43 am »


        Heheheh  No honey its fine...thanks...I just didnt ever think anyone had anything to say to me that
was needing a blog..

          Time will tell sweetie..........            thanks again....

                     Everyone have a glass of your preference on me.....
                              bar is open

                                 
« Last Edit: November 15, 2010, 04:46:21 am by ifyoucantfixit »



     Beautiful mind

injest

  • Guest
Re: Notes for Janice!!
« Reply #2 on: January 01, 2008, 11:36:54 am »
Coke...no rum, please...I want to keep my clothes on.

I can't hold my liquor...

Offline Sharon

  • BetterMost 1000+ Posts Club
  • ******
  • Posts: 2,181
Re: Notes for Janice!!
« Reply #3 on: January 01, 2008, 11:41:41 am »
Good idea!
"Happy New Year"
Janice!

Offline Lumière

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 9,283
Re: Notes for Janice!!
« Reply #4 on: January 01, 2008, 12:10:22 pm »

Hey J!  :)


Offline CellarDweller

  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • ********
  • Posts: 38,256
  • A city boy's mentality, with a cowboy's soul.
Re: Notes for Janice!!
« Reply #5 on: January 01, 2008, 12:17:50 pm »
Hiya Jancie love!

Happy new year!


Tell him when l come up to him and ask to play the record, l'm gonna say: ''Voulez-vous jouer ce disque?''
'Voulez-vous, will you kiss my dick?'
Will you play my record? One-track mind!

Offline Shasta542

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 7,999
Re: Notes for Janice!!
« Reply #6 on: January 01, 2008, 01:23:04 pm »
Hey Janice!!! Several of us stayed up until you west coasters caught up with us last night!! I pooped out before Hawaii got there tho! David said they are a couple hours or so behind ya'll.

How's the first day of the year going in Oregon? Got snow? Have a great day!! See ya later.  :)
"Gettin' tired of your dumbass missin'!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Offline ifyoucantfixit

  • Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 8,049
Re: Notes for Janice!!
« Reply #7 on: January 01, 2008, 02:14:03 pm »

           Nope no snow today...First day in a while with no rain..Its partly cloudy.  We have another storm
"coming in from the Pacific."  Rain again later tonight or tomorrow.   Nice to see you all here.
Jess, Sharon,Lucise, Chuck and Shasta.  Have a drink sit back and relax, its a good day to start a new
blog...



http://community.livejournal.com/brokebackslash/
« Last Edit: November 15, 2010, 04:48:07 am by ifyoucantfixit »



     Beautiful mind

Offline ifyoucantfixit

  • Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 8,049
Re: Notes for Janice!!
« Reply #8 on: January 01, 2008, 02:25:42 pm »


      In just four days it will be my Brokeback Mountain two year anniversary..   Something that has turned
my life on its ear.  I have gotten thru the devastation of the first several viewings of the movie.  I cried
and listened to the cd.  And went back and saw the movie again five more times at the theatre.
      Then I went to the local video shop and put my order in for the dvd when it came in...I then searched
the internet for anything I could find to give me a further connection to the movie...
      That is the beginning.  All the wonderful trips I have made, and all the glorious friends I have made.
That is the rest of the story...I have gained what I consider brothers and sisters, and a son.  Through all
of this...What a glorious outcome from two young men, that went up on a mountain, with 1000 sheep.
It has made a world of people into a family.



     Beautiful mind

Offline Brokeback_Dev

  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *******
  • Posts: 5,985
  • Love is a force of nature
Re: Notes for Janice!!
« Reply #9 on: January 01, 2008, 02:46:49 pm »
YAY!  Janice starts a blog.  Awesome my Friend.  Hope to see you here often..  Love you sweeite.  Congratualtions!!!!