Dying AIDS Patient Gets Baboon Marrow Transplant

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Dying AIDS Patient Gets Baboon Marrow Transplant

Washington Post (12/15/95) P. A1
Schwartz, John; Weiss, Rick

On Thursday night, AIDS patient and activist Jeff Getty received baboon bone marrow cells in an effort to boost his immune system. Earlier this week, Getty noted that the procedure was risky and had dubious potential for success. Yet he also said that there are few treatments for late-stage AIDS patients, and that he was willing to risk his life "to try to get some answers." Researchers from the University of California at San Francisco and the University of Pittsburgh were to inject a combination of baboon "stem" cells that develop into integral parts of the immune system and "facilitating" cells that are believed to suppress the natural tendency to reject foreign cells. If all goes well, the cells will eventually settle into Getty's bone marrow and begin to function. Getty would not be cleared of HIV, but the researchers theorize that once the baboon cells were established, they would do the work that Getty's own immune system cannot. Results of the transplant will not be known for several months. Related Stories: Wall Street Journal (12/15) P. A1; New York Times (12/15) P. A1; USA Today (12/15) P. 1A; Los Angeles Times (12/15) P. B1

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