So more than two years ago I wrote about the Berlin patient who had been cured of HIV by a stem cell transplant. The great news is that 3.5 years late, he is still not HIV-positive. As the researchers put it:
“In summary,” the authors write, “our results demonstrate successful CD4+ T cell reconstitution at the systemic level as well as in the [gut] following [transplantation], and additionally provide evidence for the reduction in the size of the potential HIV reservoir overtime. Although the recovered CD4+ T cells are susceptible to infection with X4 HIV infection, the patient remains without any evidence for HIV infection since more than 3.5 years after discontinuation of ART. From these results, it is reasonable to conclude that cure of HIV infection has been achieved in this patient.”
This is not going to be a cure for most people. They had to kill (i.e. ablate or condition) his immune system, then find a donor whose stem cells made a rare particular receptor cell mutation (the long-term non-progressor mutation). Then he was on immune-suppression drugs for a long time.
But still he is the first cure (apart from all those Christians who have been cured over the phone in Boston NOT).
AIDSmeds – Top Stories : Berlin Patient Follow-Up ‘Strongly Suggests’ HIV Cure – by Tim Horn.
