The HIV virus. — © Universal Images Group via Getty
A German man (53) is the third known case of a cure for HIV. This is reported in the scientific journal Nature. The man in question suffered from leukemia and underwent a stem cell donation in the context of that disease. As a result of that procedure, his bone marrow cells were replaced by HIV-resistant stem cells.
jvhBron: Nature
HIV patients have been treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART) for many years. This treatment ensures that the virus is reduced to an almost undetectable level, so that it cannot be transmitted to other people. However, the virus remains in the body and can reproduce if the patient stops treatment.
A complete cure should involve the complete removal of the virus from the body. That apparently happened to the German man in question, whose name has not been released but who is referred to as the ‘Düsseldorf patient’. The man stopped his ART treatment in 2018, but has since remained HIV-free.
The stem cell technique was first used in 2007, with Timothy Ray Brown (the ‘Berlin patient’). After a leukemia diagnosis, he also received a stem cell transplant with cells from a donor with a specific genetic mutation (CCR5Δ32/Δ32), which meant that his stem cells could not be infected with the HIV virus. Brown was also able to stop ART treatment after the procedure and remained HIV-free until his death in 2020. In 2019, the same treatment also cured Adam Castillejo, the ‘London patient’.
Research has been conducted for years on the principle that the conscious stem cells make HIV resistant, but it seems unlikely that the treatment can be used for HIV patients who do not have leukaemia. This is associated with certain risks, in particular that the donated stem cells are rejected.