Marvels, Milestones and Mom: The Ups and Downs in a Year of Functional-HIV-Cure Research
December 6, 2010
While I was flying home from Toronto, the International HIV Controllers Study (Ragon Institute) released its long-awaited Genome-Wide Association Scan (GWAS) results on 1,000 HIV controllers and 2,648 HIV progressors in the prestigious journal, Science. This important paper is the culmination of many years of dedicated investigation and dogged determination on Drs. Bruce Walker and Florencia Pereyra's part, not to mention the collaborative efforts between hundreds of institutions and medical providers they worked hard to coordinate around the world. Their findings provide a major piece of the puzzle in the search for an explanation of how we 'controllers' do what we do -- natural suppression of HIV infection without the aid of antiretrovirals (ART) -- insofar as genetics are concerned, and have been summarized by far better writers than myself these past couple of weeks.
Out of all of the articles I've read, however, one of the best descriptions appeared in a tiny article published by MyHealthNews Daily on November 8, composed by a woman by the name of Amanda Chan.
Why did I like this article? Ms. Chan captured the essence of the matter in layperson's terms -- easy to understand and hardly any 'med-speak' (scientific jargon) -- that really helped me to get on the 'page', and she held a terrific interview with Dr. Pereyra, too. Here's some of the text of the article, but I'll hope you'll read the full version when you have some time:
I have much to be thankful for and look forward to more astonishing discoveries in the coming year. For now, I wish you a Happy Holiday season and a spectacular New Year!