Anyone near Palm Springs, CA?

[freewillie99]

This would be a very interesting discussion to sit in on:

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20081201/LIFESTYLES03/812010303/1026/news12

What: Research Advances in HIV/AIDS with John Rossi, Ph.D. and Loring Leeds
When: 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday
Where: Hotel Zoso, 150 S. Indian Canyon Drive, Palm Springs
Cost: Free, but seating is limited and reservations are required
Information: (888) 221-HOPE (4673); rsvp@coh.org

Researcher to lecture in Palm Springs on AIDS therapy
 
A Nov. 13 Associated Press story reported that an American with AIDS living in Berlin had apparently been “cured” of the disease using a targeted bone marrow transplant.

While researchers and the man's doctors cautioned that it could only be a fluke, it does hold out hope, according to John Rossi, Chair and Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope in Duarte.

Rossi will be one of the featured speakers Thursday at the City of Hope's Research Advances in HIV/AIDS Community Forum at Hotel Zoso in Palm Springs.

During the 90-minute program, Rossi will discuss how breakthroughs in stem cell therapies might come into general use in the not-too-distant future.

For Rossi, the possibility of a breakthrough in treating HIV/AIDS using stem cells is thrilling. “This is what my work is all about,” he said.

In the Berlin case, the patient's immune system was destroyed using chemotherapy before he was given a donor bone marrow transplant.

The donor marrow had a rare, but naturally occurring genetic mutation which made it resistant to almost all strains of HIV, apparently killing any remaining virus in his body.

“Imagine if we could replicate that in the lab with a person's own stem cells,” said Rossi, who is also an adjunct professor at the University of California, Riverside. “Then reintroducing them back into the patient.”

The advantage to using the patient's own bone marrow is there is no chance of rejection.

Then, Rossi said, a portion of the patient's bone marrow would be removed and genetically modified in a lab. Once the modification was completed, a partial bone marrow ablation would be the next step.

“Just to make enough room in the bone marrow for the modified cells to grow,” said Rossi. “Because the bone marrow isn't completely destroyed, this procedure would able to be done on an outpatient basis.”

Once the re-introduced modified stem cells begin to produce disease-resistant “daughter cells,” the chances of effecting a “cure” greatly increase, he said.

At this point in the research, “we've done a very limited number of trials, with promising results,” Rossi said. “But since (City of Hope) is a nonprofit facility, we don't have the money to do a full-blown FDA trial. We're hoping to find a drug company who can pick up (the study) for the FDA trial.”

[HALOO]

This is really good!! I also do have believe stem cell will lead to the cure(or permanent control HIV)
but I have a question


At this point in the research, “we've done a very limited number of trials, with promising results,”??


 limited number of trials refer to human or animal or lab?