Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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United Press International; Wednesday November 26, 1997 - 5:51 AM EST
Peter Kenny
A research team in an Osaka medical center says today similarities between the deadly Human T-Cell Lymphotrophic Virus (HTLV1) that the boy had carried and the genetic structure of the HIV virus could mean bone marrow transplants may kill the virus that causes the killer AIDS virus.
Researchers at the Osaka Medical Center and Research Institute for Maternal and Child Health suggest the virus may have been eradicated due to the transplant of healthy bone marrow stimulated killer T-cells that attack cells infected with the virus.
Keisei Kawa, head of pediatrics team that performed the bone marrow transplant on the boy told United Press International, "Replacing infected blood through a bone marrow transplant may be a way to combat the HIV virus at an early stage."
But the doctor cautioned, "But there are problems that need to be addressed, including the shortage of donors."
Kawa said there are currently 80,000 willing marrow donors in Japan, but taking marrow from healty people is damaging, so the treatment is limited to very serious cases only.
The Osaka team has also suggested that the chemotherapy the boy received before the transplant may have killed the virus.
The HTLV1 virus is transmitted to the T-lymphocyte through breast milk, blood transfusions or sexual contact.
It causes anemia and sores and inflames lymph glands.
The virus incubates for dozens of years. It breaks out in only about one of every 1,000 to 2,000 carriers, but once it has broken out, the chances of death are high.
Although HTLV1 and HIV possess different characteristics, they both infect the T-lymphocyte inwhite blood cells.
The team carried out the transplant at the medical center in September 1992. The boy had already contracted HTLV1 at the time, but the virus remained dormant.
In February 1996, a blood test onthe boy showed that all traces of the virus had disappeared from his body.
An inspection in August of the bone marrow genes, which could have been infected with HTLV1, did not contain the virus. Nor was it found in the hematosis, or blood-making, structure.
The HTLV1 virus killed 819 people in Japan in 1995 official records show.
Takashi Uchiyama, an expert on viruses from Kyoto University said, "As it has been five years since the transplant, it is fair to say the virus has successfully been eradicated.
He said the discovery is significant for the possibilities it offers in the field of treating viruses.
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