Blogs / 80beats

In a remarkable announcement, German researchers have declared that they “functionally cured” a patient of AIDS, eradicating all traces of the virus from his body. The feat was accomplished with a bone marrow transplant from a donor who had a genetic resistance to the virus, and researchers say that 20 months later they can find no trace of the virus in the patient’s blood, bone marrow, or organ tissue.

But the accomplishment shouldn’t be taken as a sign that a cure for the 33 million people living with AIDS is around the corner, researchers are hasty to add. Professor Rodolf Tauber from the [German] clinic said: “This is an interesting case for research. But to promise to millions of people infected with HIV that there is hope of a cure would not be right” [BBC News]. Reasons for this caution include the small number of potential donors with the HIV-resistant mutation, and the difficulty and expense of bone marrow transplants.

(more…)

For the first time researchers have sequenced the complete genome of a cancer cell, and they say the process turned up eight previously unknown genetic mutations that played a role in the patient’s terminal leukemia. As it gets cheaper and easier to decode entire genomes, as opposed to just checking “usual suspect” stretches of DNA, doctors hope to decode the genomes of many different types of cancer. Eventually, researchers say cheap techniques may allow doctors to study the cancer genomes of individual patients.

Lead researcher Richard Wilson said he hoped that in 5 to 20 years, decoding a patient’s cancer genome would consist of dropping a spot of blood onto a chip that slides into a desktop computer and getting back a report that suggests which drugs will work best.“That’s personalized genomics, personalized medicine in a box,” he said. “It’s holy grail sort of stuff, but I think it’s not out of the realm of possibility” [The New York Times].

(more…)

A leukemia drug has shown great promise in treating multiple sclerosis patients, decreasing neurological symptoms and in some cases even allowing patients to rebuild damaged brain tissue, according to a new study.

Lead researcher Alasdair Coles says the findings offer new hope to patients suffering from the incurable disease: “Not only can this drug stop the disease in its tracks it can reverse patients disabilities. They can walk farther and work for longer. Their lives have started again. This was not expected, the best anyone thought we could hope for with MS drugs was to prevent the condition getting any worse” [Telegraph]. But the drug, named alemtuzumab, also caused some serious side effects that researchers are still investigating.

(more…)