The first AIDS case recognized at the time in the United States was reported to the CDC in April of 1980. Today, more than 1 million Americans are living with HIV/AIDS, and many more are inflicted across the world.
A diagnosis of AIDS in '80s usually resulted in death. In the mid-to-late 1980s, testing was developed to slow the spread of the disease by more quickly identifying the carriers and to protect those who relied upon the nation's blood supply.
The first antiretroviral drug, AZT, was released in 1987 to treat HIV. However, combination therapy "cocktails" proved to be more effective than AZT alone, and AIDS began its transformation into a chronic, but manageable, condition.
Now, there is word that we may actually have discovered a cure, and clinical trials in humans have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The possible cure all started with a patient in Berlin — a man who received a stem cell transplant from a donor whose white blood cells (WBCs) had mutated naturally. The mutation occurs naturally in a small percentage of the population, giving these individuals lifelong immunity.
Fortunately for others, scientists have found a way to replicate the mutation process, which mimics WBCs found in those naturally immune to HIV/AIDS. Scientists hope to replicate what occurred in the Berlin patient, who remains the only person to be cured of HIV after having received a stem cell transplant from a donor with natural immunity.
It is a functional cure, in that it relies upon genetic modification that affects a protein that interferes with the virus's ability to latch onto white blood cells. In a small trial of 12 patients, the procedure was found to be tolerable, have a low risk of adverse side effects and proved long-lasting. The approved clinical trials are set to begin in humans and will involve:
- harvesting of stem cells from an HIV-infected patient
- modifying the DNA of WBCs to mirror natural immunity and make them resistant to HIV
- reintroduce these cells into the same HIV patient
Sangano BioSciences, based in Richmond, Virginia, will conduct the trial at City of Hope in Duarte, California, and participants will include people with HIV/AIDS who have had poor responses to standard therapies and treatments.
The average discounted lifetime costs for the treatment of HIV/AIDS can range from $253,000 to $402,000. Combined with the ongoing prevention efforts, this therapy could help further reduce the costs of treatment and living with the disease.
This is welcome news to both individuals living with the disease and those involved with public health.
