HIV replication in .. tissue replenishes viral resevoirs

[tryingtostay]

This brings up a lot of possibilities to approaching a cure, and questions about how the Berlin Patient was cured.  If you would of asked me I could of told you I felt my lymph nodes under my armpits swell up on and off, consistently.  Some of us can feel this, and the fortunate I would say probably don't notice due to a low amount of HIV in their lymph tissue.  How did the Berlin patient reach the "Cured" stage?  Of course we know about the CCR5 mutation that doesn't allow HIV to attach to the immune cells and that Timothy Brown, by science, received this HIV resistant variation.  But if HIV is also in the lymph tissue what destroyed this persistent reservoir?  What got into the tissue to destroy it?  There has been speculation and even tests to recreate this miracle...  Maybe it was resistant killer T cells that recognized the HIV and killed it off... Was it the (correct me if I am wrong) fact that he went through two treatments of Chemo and Radiation therapy that killed off his immune cells?  Here in these two articles they talk about HAART not sufficiently able to keep HIV from replicating in the lymph tissues.  This makes me think.  I'd like to see a combination of the HIV awakening agents with a round of Chemo and Radiation.  Doesn't sound pretty but if it did the job I'd volunteer. 


HIV is still growing, even when undetectable in the blood

Ongoing HIV replication replenishes viral reservoirs during therapy

[leatherman]

Was it the (correct me if I am wrong) fact that he went through two treatments of Chemo and Radiation therapy that killed off his immune cells? 

Tim went through chemo and radiation for lymphoma, not HIV. Whenever the news of his "cure" is discussed I point out that he was not cured of HIV. His immune system was wiped out and replaced through stem cell transplantation. His "new" immune system had the CCR5 mutation which in essence "eradicated" the HIV. (after the procedures any remaining HIV was not able to infect any tcells and eventually died off unable to replicate) The procedures did not "cure" the HIV.

Of course, the high rates of death with the chemo, with the radiation, and with the stem cell transplant is why this method has not been tried except for a few other times. Tim Brown was pretty lucky to have survived all three procedures - not once but twice! His procedures weren't very pretty and he was left with a lot of health problems afterwards. The only way you would be allowed to volunteer would be for the same reasons Tim was allowed - you'd have to have incurable lymphoma with no other options to stop your approaching death. Otherwise, no medical professional would put a patient at the horribly high risks from death from each of the medical procedures.

[Giancarlo]

Timothy Brown (aka "the Berlin patient") was treated for leukemia, not lymphoma... But it does not change the rest (nor alter the relevance) of your message!

However the two "Boston patients" were treated for lymphoma and received a bone-marrow transplant (but without the CCR5 mutation, if I remember correctly). They remained HIV-free for a few years but eventually encountered viral rebound.
http://www.nature.com/news/hopes-of-hiv-cure-in-boston-patients-dashed-1.14324

[tryingtostay]

I kindly say that I never implied that he went through chemo and radiation for HIV.  It was for the cancer that developed in his system.  But the links I posted talk about it being in our lymphoid tissue layers.  HIV has also been found in the kidneys of organ donors who had HIV.  The big picture I was point out is that it is in our tissue layers also.  I'm wondering if the chemo & radiation had a part in killing off the HIV in his tissue layers as well as the new immune system ccr5 stem cell transplant.

It kinda sucks that scientists are now finding out it's also in our lymphoid tissue layers as I described most of us can feel our lymph nodes swell at times. 

[tryingtostay]

Timothy Brown (aka "the Berlin patient") was treated for leukemia, not lymphoma... But it does not change the rest (nor alter the relevance) of your message!

However the two "Boston patients" were treated for lymphoma and received a bone-marrow transplant (but without the CCR5 mutation, if I remember correctly). They remained HIV-free for a few years but eventually encountered viral rebound.
http://www.nature.com/news/hopes-of-hiv-cure-in-boston-patients-dashed-1.14324

Yeah, I think I read about that.  Wasn't it like a year later it came back?  And didn't one of them die er something?   sad