German doctors cure man of HIV with stem cells

A much nicer story coming out of Germany than this morning's neutering: doctors in Germany say they've cured Timothy Brown's HIV while treating him for leukemia. (Brown was really getting screwed over by the universe there for a bit.) And it's all because the stem cells he was treated with came from an HIV-resistant donor. I'll allow someone who knows what they're talking about to explain the scientific bits:

The man received bone marrow from a donor who had natural resistance to HIV infection; this was due to a genetic profile which led to the CCR5 co-receptor being absent from his cells. The most common variety of HIV uses CCR5 as its ‘docking station’, attaching to it in order to enter and infect CD4 cells, and people with this mutation are almost completely protected against infection.

This actually happened back in 2008, but after repeated testing doctors are now relatively sure that the treatment has stuck. Good news for Brown, of course, but unfortunately this treatment would probably only work for some people under very specific conditions. But any step forward is still a step forward; this could always turn out to be the key to discovering a more widely applicable treatment for the virus.