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by rsynnott 197 days ago
> I don't think this is the breakthrough

Definitely not. Five year survival rate for stem cell transplants is about 50%. People with HIV now have effectively normal life expectancies provided that they're treated. Even if this worked reliably, it would be _very_ much a case of the cure being worse than the disease.
1 comments
gpjt 197 days ago
How much of that low survival rate is due to the condition they received the transplant, though? Conceivably a patient with "just" HIV might do better than one with eg. leukemia and HIV.

That said, IIUC the whole stem cell transplant procedure is unpleasant enough that it still might not be worth it.

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stickfigure 196 days ago
About half?

"The major cause of death is relapse, which accounts for approximately 40% of all deaths, followed by infections at 25% and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) at 20%."

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266663672...

A good friend of mine died from a C. Diff infection in the hospital after a bone marrow transplant. It is very risky, especially with an imperfect match.

That said, you can help make it less risky! This used to be called "Be The Match", not sure why they renamed it but you could save someone's life by registering to be a donor:

https://www.nmdp.org/

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fragrom 196 days ago
I donated bone marrow through Be the Match (before they changed their name). It was painful, but I highly recommend the experience to folks whenever it comes up.

You get to save the life of a stranger AND they give you a t-shirt. Win win!

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