Seventh Person Likely Cured Of HIV After Stem Cell Treatment
A German man who wishes to remain anonymous has very likely just become the seventh person in the world to be cured of HIV. The successful treatment followed a stem cell transplant used to treat his cancer, according to researchers who will present their findings at the 2024 International AIDS Conference in Munich.
NBC News reports multiple tests being given that were unable to detect any copies of the virus in his body. The patient had received a stem cell transplant in 2015 following a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia. The man stopped taking his antiretroviral medication to treat his HIV in 2018. He currently remains in remission.
Dr. Christian Gaebler of Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin told NBC News, “The longer we see these HIV remissions without any HIV therapy, the more confidence we can get that we’re probably seeing a case where we really have eradicated all competent HIV.”
Unfortunately, the trend exhibited in the German patient’s case proves difficult to replicate for the 39 million people worldwide living with HIV. In all seven cases of HIV being cured, stem cell treatments were used in the patients after they developed blood cancer. Because stem cell treatments are toxic and can be fatal, it would considered unethical to adopt such treatments as a widespread cure for the majority of people who have HIV.
The Body, an HIV/AIDS news information site, explains that when HIV enters a person’s immune system, the virus only has one job: creating more HIV. It does this by hijacking healthy immune cells and injecting its genetic code into them. The previously healthy cells are turned into factories that create copies of the virus until the cell is eventually killed off.
However, living alongside these hijacked cell factories are “latent HIV reservoirs.” These are groups of cells that have been hijacked by HIV but are not making any copies of the virus. These dormant cells can activate at any time. Targeting them is difficult for researches because they exist in hard-to-reach places like the lymph nodes, the gut, and the brain.
Presently, there are three avenues researchers are taking to combat and cure the virus.
- Shock & Kill: This method involves waking up dormant cells in order to locate them in the body and be killed off.
- Block & Lock: This aims to inert the dormant cells, causing them to stay dormant, which would render them unable to create copies.
- Gene therapy: The goal of this method is to edit immune cells so that HIV cannot bind to them OR finding the infected cells and removing HIV’s genetic code from them.
Each form of therapy presents its own set of challenges.
Meanwhile, treatment remains highly effective for people living with the virus. When taken as prescribed, treatment can continue to reduce the viral load in a person’s body until it is undetectable, meaning it is also untransmittable. Think “U=U,” or “Undetectable=Untransmittable“. Health outcomes of those individuals who are treated tend to be better overall. Treatment options now include a long-acting injection that is administered once every month to remain undetectable.
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