A 60-year-old German HIV patient managed to achieve “Sustained remission of the disease – which can be considered cured – after undergoing a stem cell transplant to treat leukemia. This case, documented and published by the scientific journal Nature, represents the seventh documented case of recovery from the virus that causes AIDS around the world.
According to the text of the study, the patient stopped antiretroviral therapy (ART) against HIV to undergo the disease. Stem cell transplant As the best option to fight leukemia. As the researchers explained, “HIV remission was maintained for more than six years” after transplantation.
The peculiarity of this case is that the stem cell donor did not carry two copies of… CCR5Δ3 mutation2- The mutation that prevents HIV from entering cells – but only one, something that does not happen in the rest of the cases of long-term remission of HIV, which are always associated with organ transplants from donors with this rare genetic variant.
This case, in which no signs of viral replication were detected more than six years after stopping treatment, aims to change the understanding of the disease and Providing scientists with new tools Against the virus.
As the researcher from the University of Berlin, Christian Gabler, explained to the specialized media SINC, the results indicate that recovery from HIV could be possible without the need for a donor. Homozygous (with CCR5 Δ32 mutation), which That would dramatically open up the scope of donors To develop this therapeutic route against HIV. However, the researcher reminded the aforementioned media about this This strategy can only be used in patients who have other indications Medical, in addition to HIV, because it is “too dangerous” to be used against the virus alone.