The man received the stem cell transplant almost ten years ago and has been living in good health for four years now, without any treatments for HIV. Researcher from UMC Utrecht Anne Wensing previously mentioned him as one of the virus-free HIV patients, but he has been followed for so long that it can be determined with great certainty that he has really been cured of the virus. The case has now also been published in the journal Nature Medicine.
Stem cell transplant
The patient participated in the IciStem program, which is led by UMC Utrecht. Within this European cooperation programme, research is being conducted into patients with HIV who need a stem cell transplant for a condition such as leukaemia. In order to also tackle HIV directly with the transplant, stem cells are used from a donor with a genetic mutation. That person’s immune cells lack an attachment site for HIV, which offers protection against the virus. The mutation mainly occurs in white people from Central and Northern Europe.
The patient is being treated at a hospital in Düsseldorf and is therefore referred to as the ‘Düsseldorf patient’. He is the third European patient to be officially cured of HIV after a stem cell transplant. The ‘Berlin patient’ and the ‘London patient’ preceded him.
Big risks
Stem cell transplantation can only be used as part of the treatment of a life-threatening disease such as leukaemia, the researchers explain. It entails great risks. The scientists hope that the knowledge gained about the Düsseldorf patient will provide further starting points for HIV studies, so that patients can also be cured in other ways in the future.
Last year it was announced that a patient in America also seems to be cured of the virus. Where the three Europeans received a bone marrow transplant, the American woman received umbilical cord blood. At the time, Wensing called that treatment good news, especially for patients of color. In the case of a transplant with umbilical cord blood, the requirements for the similarity between donor and patient are less strict. This increases the chance that people who are not white can also benefit from the treatment.