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CCR5-delta 32: The rare mutation to stop HIV
Why is it in news?
- Recently, with the case of the London Patient, scientists have successfully duplicated Dr Hütter’s CCR5-delta 32 experiment from 13 years ago.
More in news
- Less pain than earlier method: Latest experiment is less painful than earlier one which was used to cure Timothy Ray Brown, the pioneering survivor of HIV.
- London Patient: The remarkable research breakthrough that appears to have cured the anonymous “London Patient” of HIV is based on a stem cell transplant involving CCR5-delta 32 homozygous donor cells.
- Same treatment conducted successfully: This is the same treatment that cured Timothy Ray Brown, known as the “Berlin Patient” when he received two stem cell transplants in 2007 and 2008.
- Allogeneic stem cell transplant:(1) Dr Hütter put Brown through an allogeneic stem cell transplant.(2) It involved replacing his immune system with donor hematopoietic stem cells (usually found in bone marrow) so that his immune system could be regenerated, with no malignant cells.(3) Importantly however, the donor he chose carried what is called a CCR5-delta 32 mutation.(4) On the surface membrane of immune cells is a protein called CCR5, which is acts like a door that allows HIV entrance into the cell.(5) HIV uses the CCR5 protein to enter immune cells, but it can’t latch on to cells that carry the delta 32 mutation.
Source
Indian express