The Future has Officially Arrived

I found this link today and was floored. Apparently a man who had both leukemia and HIV now has detectable levels of neither following a stem cell transplant. He was given the treatment largely for the leukemia, but the doctors, knowing that the man was HIV positive, derived the stem cells from a donor with the HIV-resistant gene found in 1-3% of people of European descent. As I understand it, no one had much idea of whether the resistant donor gene would have any effect, and since the transplant was for the leukemia, HIV wasn't the main concern. But apparently it worked. Two years post-op, and the man has no signs of disease. I'm impressed.

It's not a solution that will work for most people, because stem cell transplants are fairly drastic procedures in and of themselves. But I think gene therapy is on the way. Noninvasive types of gene therapy could probably be in their final rounds of testing in about five years' time (based on my understanding of where the technology is now and my knowledge of how long clinical trials take). Once it's all tested, gene therapy could be the hope that millions of people are looking for, an alternative to AZT and the drug cocktails that are the current treatments for HIV and AIDS.

Here's to positive uses of stem cells!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/11/health.hiv.stemcell/index.html