"Berlin Patient" Brown evidence of HIV “persistence” in body. So, is Brown cured…or not? That depends in part on your definition of “cure.”

by San Francisco AIDS Foundation

Readers familiar with the story of Timothy Brown—hailed as the first person cured of HIV—may be puzzled by all the talk around confusing reports that HIV traces were detected in his body. What does this mean for the man formerly known as the “Berlin Patient”—and for the prospect of an HIV cure?

UPDATE:

Since his second bone marrow transplant procedure in 2008, Brown has been off antiretroviral drugs and had no detectable HIV—until now. At last week’s International Workshop on HIV & Hepatitis Virus Drug Resistance and Curative Strategies in Sitges, Spain, Dr. Steve Yukl from the University of California at San Francisco reported evidence of HIV “persistence” in Brown’s body.

To help make sense of these findings, here are the facts from the study and some possible interpretations for what they mean—and what they don’tmean.

This article sorts through the history, the current talk, and the science.

The Berlin Patient Makes History

New non-contagious AIDS-like disease found in Asia

SHAIRA PANELA, GMA NEWS

 Even as the promise of an AIDS vaccine seems finally within humanity's reach, researchers in the United States have discovered a new disease —as-yet unnamed, but fortunately non-contagious— with very AIDS-like symptoms.

 

AIDS —or acquired immune deficiency syndrome— results from the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which completely disables its host's natural defenses against infection. In the Philippines alone, as of June 2012, there were 295 reported HIV-positive cases, 16 of which were AIDS cases,according to the National Epidemiology Center's latest HIV Surveillance Report.

 

However, unlike HIV, the newly-discovered immunodeficiency disease does not spread through a virus, nor is it inherited, said Dr. Sarah Browne of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Everyone Reacts Positive on the ELISA Tests for HIV

by roberto giraldo


For the last 6 years I have been working at a laboratory of clinical immunology in one of the most prestigious University Hospitals in the City of New York. Here I have had the opportunity to personally run and get to know in detail the current tests used for the diagnosis of HIV status, namely, the ELISA, Western blot and Viral Load tests.

1. Diluting the serum for the ELISA testThe ELISA test is a test for antibodies against what is supposed to be the Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV. To run this test, an individual’s serum has to be diluted to a ratio of 1:400 with a special specimen diluent. According to the test kit manufacturer this diluent contains "0.1% triton X-100, Bovine and Goat Sera (minimum concentration of 5%) and Human T-Lymphocyte Lysate (minimum titer 1:7500). Preservative: 0.1% Sodium Azide" (1).

This extraordinarily high dilution of the person’s serum [400 times] took me by surprise. Most serologic tests that look for the presence of antibodies against germs uses neat serum [undiluted]. For example, the tests that look for antibodies to hepatitis A and B viruses, rubella virus, syphilis, hystoplasma and cryptococus, to mention a few of them, use straight serum [undiluted]. However, to try to prevent false positive reactions some serologic tests use diluted serum; for example this is the case with tests that look for antibodies to measles, varicella and mumps viruses which use a dilution of 1:16, to cytomegalovirus [CMV] 1:20 and to Epstein-Barr Virus [EBV] 1:10.

The obvious questions are: What makes HIV so unique that the test serum needs to be diluted 400 times? And what would happen if the individual’s serum is not diluted ?


2. Testing the ELISA test without diluting the serum

Imprisoned for transmitting HIV: One man's story

By Saundra Young, CNN Sr. Medical Producer

 A good discussion, from a mainstream perspective, about how the HIV=AIDS dogma criminalized HIV antibodies and how it is very hard to escape if you refuse to escape the dogma. from http://aras.ab.ca/news.html

(CNN) -- The nightmare Nick Rhoades has been living the past four years began after a one-time sexual encounter with another Iowa man, Adam Plendl.

It was June 2008. The 34-year-old Rhoades, who is HIV positive, says he was on antiretroviral medications. His viral load -- the amount of virus in his blood -- at the time was undetectable and he says he wore a condom. But Plendl contacted the police because Rhoades did not disclose his HIV status.

HIV mutates to escape immune system

However, we still do not how these antibodies really work,...

HIV discovery brings vaccine closer

By Belle Dumé

Cosmos Online

An investigation into the activity of antibodies in HIV patients has revealed that the HIV virus can mutate in order to 'escape' this immune response.

An investigation into the activity of antibodies in HIV patients has revealed that the HIV virus can mutate in order to ‘escape’ this immune response.

Human ADCC (antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity) antibodies – which are often present in high concentrations in HIV-infected patients – have been strongly implicated in the protection from HIV in several vaccine trials
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