‘Transplanting Hope’: Experimental Stem Cell Therapy and the Political Economy of an HIV Cure
Abstract In this article, I use a socio-anthropological perspective to analyze the configurations and developments of the first five cases of an HIV “cure” or “long-term remission”. These unprecedented results in the history of medicine were achieved through experimental stem cell transplants, whose...
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| Language: | English |
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Associação Brasileira de Antropologia
2024-10-01
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| Series: | Vibrant: Virtual Brazilian Anthropology |
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| Online Access: | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1809-43412024000100506&lng=en&tlng=en |
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| author | Kris Herik de Oliveira |
| author_facet | Kris Herik de Oliveira |
| author_sort | Kris Herik de Oliveira |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract In this article, I use a socio-anthropological perspective to analyze the configurations and developments of the first five cases of an HIV “cure” or “long-term remission”. These unprecedented results in the history of medicine were achieved through experimental stem cell transplants, whose donors had a rare genetic mutation called CCR5Δ32/Δ32, which confers a “natural resistance” to HIV infection. More specifically, I seek to explore the role of hope in these assemblages, that is, how it is manifest in narratives and composes situated practices. To do so, I collected and analyzed the content of scientific, journalistic, and biographical documents in a cartographic exercise (2008-2023). I observed that the first “success stories” in curative therapies for HIV can be seen as events in the trajectory of the HIV/AIDS pandemic that promoted short-circuits in the status quo and sparked new techno-scientific controversies. In this context, hope reveals complex and fluid connections, mobilizes desires, creates possibilities, attracts investments, and fosters discourses about the supposed “end” of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Finally, I suggest that this reflection is situated within a broader technobiopolitical network, which I call the “political economy of the HIV cure”. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7b8eff3df88945adaefcc93c5130b6b7 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1809-4341 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-10-01 |
| publisher | Associação Brasileira de Antropologia |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Vibrant: Virtual Brazilian Anthropology |
| spelling | doaj-art-7b8eff3df88945adaefcc93c5130b6b72025-08-20T02:09:40ZengAssociação Brasileira de AntropologiaVibrant: Virtual Brazilian Anthropology1809-43412024-10-012110.1590/1809-43412024v21d506‘Transplanting Hope’: Experimental Stem Cell Therapy and the Political Economy of an HIV CureKris Herik de Oliveirahttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-0530-2513Abstract In this article, I use a socio-anthropological perspective to analyze the configurations and developments of the first five cases of an HIV “cure” or “long-term remission”. These unprecedented results in the history of medicine were achieved through experimental stem cell transplants, whose donors had a rare genetic mutation called CCR5Δ32/Δ32, which confers a “natural resistance” to HIV infection. More specifically, I seek to explore the role of hope in these assemblages, that is, how it is manifest in narratives and composes situated practices. To do so, I collected and analyzed the content of scientific, journalistic, and biographical documents in a cartographic exercise (2008-2023). I observed that the first “success stories” in curative therapies for HIV can be seen as events in the trajectory of the HIV/AIDS pandemic that promoted short-circuits in the status quo and sparked new techno-scientific controversies. In this context, hope reveals complex and fluid connections, mobilizes desires, creates possibilities, attracts investments, and fosters discourses about the supposed “end” of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Finally, I suggest that this reflection is situated within a broader technobiopolitical network, which I call the “political economy of the HIV cure”.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1809-43412024000100506&lng=en&tlng=enHIV cureHematopoietic stem cell transplantationBiomedical TechnologyHopeBiopolitics |
| spellingShingle | Kris Herik de Oliveira ‘Transplanting Hope’: Experimental Stem Cell Therapy and the Political Economy of an HIV Cure Vibrant: Virtual Brazilian Anthropology HIV cure Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation Biomedical Technology Hope Biopolitics |
| title | ‘Transplanting Hope’: Experimental Stem Cell Therapy and the Political Economy of an HIV Cure |
| title_full | ‘Transplanting Hope’: Experimental Stem Cell Therapy and the Political Economy of an HIV Cure |
| title_fullStr | ‘Transplanting Hope’: Experimental Stem Cell Therapy and the Political Economy of an HIV Cure |
| title_full_unstemmed | ‘Transplanting Hope’: Experimental Stem Cell Therapy and the Political Economy of an HIV Cure |
| title_short | ‘Transplanting Hope’: Experimental Stem Cell Therapy and the Political Economy of an HIV Cure |
| title_sort | transplanting hope experimental stem cell therapy and the political economy of an hiv cure |
| topic | HIV cure Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation Biomedical Technology Hope Biopolitics |
| url | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1809-43412024000100506&lng=en&tlng=en |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT krisherikdeoliveira transplantinghopeexperimentalstemcelltherapyandthepoliticaleconomyofanhivcure |