Eliminate HIV by replacing all the blood from one's body

[jhirlo]

hi! nice board!
1 Q : why can't we (can we?) eliminate HIV by replacing all the blood from one's body ?

 

[Monique]

Because the T-cells (which get affected) are also in other places than in the blood. I then think: why not do chemotherapy and kill all the white blood cells and give a bone marrow transplant. But HIV hides inside of the DNA in cells, also in non-dividing cells, so is not affected by chemotherapy/radiation.

 

[adrenaline]

Originally posted by Monique
Because the T-cells (which get affected) are also in other places than in the blood. I then think: why not do chemotherapy and kill all the white blood cells and give a bone marrow transplant. But HIV hides inside of the DNA in cells, also in non-dividing cells, so is not affected by chemotherapy/radiation.

It's interesting because Emory University tried bone marrow transplants in HIV infected patients. I wasn't part of the study but my two months on the bone marrow transplant team..all 6 HIV's that had the BMT died. (they were relatively healthy too and had High CD4 counts and probably would have lived another 10 years with good medical treatment and the new antiretrovirals.) Very very sad. You are right Monique about how it hides in the dna of the cells, even the non replicating which is probably why the BMT did not work.