A man who has lived with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) since the ’80s has been cured, his doctors said.
To treat leukemia, the patient received a bone marrow transplant from a donor who was naturally resistant to the virus.
The 66-year-old, who prefers not to be identified, stopped taking HIV medicines. This is the fourth such case reported by scientists.
The patient said he is “beyond grateful” that the virus is no longer in his body.
The man received treatment at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Treatment Center in Duarte, California.
Many of his friends died from HIV before antiretroviral drugs could provide a near-normal life expectancy for patients.
“I don’t have HIV anymore”
HIV damages the immune system. This can cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and the body having difficulty fighting infections.
HIV enters white blood cells through a protein called CCR5. GETTY IMAGES
“When I was diagnosed with HIV in 1988, like many others, I thought it was a death sentence. I never thought I would live to see the day I no longer have HIV,” the man said in a statement.
However, he did not receive that therapy because of HIV, but to treat the leukemia he has suffered from since the age of 63.
The medical team decided that the patient needed a bone marrow transplant to replace his cancerous blood cells. By coincidence, the donor was resistant to HIV.
The virus enters the body’s white blood cells through a microscopic gate: a protein called CCR5.
However, some people, including the donor, have CCR5 mutations that close the door and prevent HIV from entering.
The cure is still the “holy grail”
The patient was closely monitored after the transplant and HIV levels became undetectable in his body.
He has been in remission for more than 17 months.
“We were thrilled to inform him that HIV is in remission and that he no longer needs to take the antiretroviral therapy he had received for more than 30 years,” said Dr. Jana Dickter, an infectious disease specialist at City of Hope.
This first happened in 2011, when Timothy Ray Brown, known as the “Berlin patient,” became the first person in the world to be cured of HIV. Brown ended up dying of cancer in September 2020.
The patient stopped receiving antiretrovirals. JAVIER ZAYAS PHOTOGRAPHY
There have already been three similar cases in the last three years.
The City of Hope patient is the oldest to receive this treatment and the one who has lived with HIV for the longest time.
However, bone marrow transplants are not going to revolutionize HIV treatment for the 38 million infected people in the world.
“It’s a complex procedure with significant potential side effects. So it’s not really a suitable option for most people living with HIV,” Dickter explained.
However, researchers are looking for ways to target the CCR5 gateway, through gene therapy as a potential treatment.
The case was disclosed at the conference Aids 2022 in Montreal, Canada.
“The cure remains the holy grail of HIV research,” said Professor Sharon Lewin, president-elect of the International AIDS Society.
Lewin recalled that there have been “a handful of individual cases of cure before,” which provided “continued hope for people living with HIV and inspiration for the scientific community.”
