Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => The Coffee Corner => Topic started by: Otto Phocus on March 15, 2017, 08:15:06 am

Title: Teen Successfully “Cured” of Sickle Cell Disease (emphasis on the quotes)
Post by: Otto Phocus on March 15, 2017, 08:15:06 am
I am surprised this did not get wider dissemination in the news. 

I got this story from the only legitimate news source I go to now.  goodnewsnetwork.org  Beats all the other mainstream sites by a mile. 

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/teen-successfully-cured-sickle-cell-disease-world-first/

Quote
Sickle cell disease is a condition in which the body’s bone marrow creates defective blood cells in the shape of a sickle, rather than a sphere. These sickle-shaped cells then block blood flow throughout the body causing extreme pain to the patient. Sickle cell disease affects over 100,000 Americans, and many more worldwide.


 The subject who received the therapy in question reportedly had so much disease-inflicted damage on his internal organs, that he had to receive a blood transfusion every month while on medication.

Doctors at the Necker Children’s Hospital in Paris achieved these results by first draining the 13-year-old’s bone marrow. They then “infected” the marrow with a virus containing genetic instructions to correctly manufacture healthy red blood cells, instead of the deformed ones that blocked blood flow.

After the insertion of the edited bone marrow into the teenager 15 months ago, the youth was able to stop taking medication and has shown no symptoms of sickle cell disease since.

Specialists are reluctant to call this procedure a “cure” since more tests need to be conducted, however the triumph has raised hope for millions of people suffering from the same disease.

For those who want to delve deeper into the details  http://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa1609677

It is still far too early to call this a cure, but I think it is really good news and I am glad we have smart people working on this.  Best of luck to them all!