ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 15, 1995 TAG: 9512150083
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD COLE ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN FRANCISCO
THE HUMANE SOCIETY condemned the experimental surgery. Scientists said it likely would be fatal. The patient was eager.
A man dying of AIDS went past the point of no return Thursday in his desperate two-year fight to receive a baboon bone-marrow transplant that might save his life.
Jeff Getty, 38, underwent a final round of radiation treatment at San Francisco General Hospital that knocked out what was left of his immune system. He was to receive the marrow injection in surgery beginning around midnight.
``It's about time,'' Getty said. ``I'm lucky to still be alive.''
Getty, an AIDS activist and former policy analyst at the University of California at Berkeley, had labored to win permission for the highly experimental surgery, which has never been tried.
In August, the Food and Drug Administration approved the surgery despite warnings from scientific advisers that the procedure would probably kill Getty and could spread baboon diseases to humans.
Human bone marrow contains stem cells that manufacture disease-fighting immune-system cells. AIDS destroys this system.
The transplant idea arose because baboons, for reasons that scientists don't understand, don't get AIDS. The theory is that the AIDS-resistant baboon stem cells will take root in Getty's bone marrow and produce immune-system cells that can fight AIDS.
Getty underwent drug and radiation treatments to destroy virtually all of his own remaining immune system to prevent it from attacking the bone marrow, which otherwise would be perceived as an invader.
Those radiation treatments all but ensure he will die from AIDS-associated infections if the transplant fails.
The results of the transplant will not be known for several months.
The Humane Society of the United States condemned the surgery. The baboon that supplied the bone marrow was killed because scientists monitoring the transplant required a large number of samples.
``Baboons, who are highly intelligent, social and emotional animals, should not be killed for such highly questionable experiments,'' said Dr. Martin Stephens, vice president for animal research issues.
Two years ago, doctors at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center injected whole baboon bone marrow into an AIDS patient, but it failed to take.
In Getty's case, doctors are transplanting stem cells rather than whole bone marrow in the hopes of avoiding rejection.
Stem cells are elementary cell forms that differentiate later into a wide range of disease-fighting cells. Human stem cells have successfully been injected into baboons.
Included with the stem cells is a second class of newly discovered facilitator cells to help the stem cells take root.
Getty, who has criticized the FDA for holding up the procedure, was eager to undergo the surgery. He has been infected with the AIDS virus for 14 years.
``This is for science. We could learn a lot here,'' he said. ``I hope to make a contribution before I pass on. If there is a long-shot chance this will pull me out, OK.''
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: File/1995. Jeff Getty, who fought for the widelyby CNBcriticized operation, said: ``This is for science. We could learn a
lot here. I hope to make a contribution before I pass on.''