The transplant used in this female patient is invasive and not suitable for most HIV patients.
An American woman is known to be the third and first woman in the world to be completely cured of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.
The HIV patient was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and then received a bone marrow transplant from a donor who is innately resistant to HIV, the cause of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
Since then, HIV has not been detected in the woman’s blood for 14 months so far.
However, experts say umbilical cord blood (umbilical cord and placental blood) stem cell transplantation is not suitable for most people with HIV because of its high risk.
This patient’s case was presented at the Korean Medical Association held in Denver, Colorado, USA on the 15th (local time), and it is the first time that cord blood stem cell transplantation has been used for a functional cure of HIV.
The female patient received a cord blood stem cell transplant as part of treatment for leukemia, and since then, she has no longer needed antiretroviral therapy, the conventional treatment for HIV.
This case is part of a large-scale trial in the United States that looked at people with HIV who received a blood group transplant for the treatment of a serious disease such as cancer.
The transplanted blood stem cells carried certain genetic mutations, which made them uninfected with the HIV virus.
The researchers therefore believe that the recipients’ immune systems may be able to develop resistance to HIV.
Every HIV cure is truly remarkable and worthy of celebration. Because it proves that HIV can be cured.
However, this treatment is insufficient to treat all 37 million people with HIV, most of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa.
The potential of stem cell transplantation was demonstrated in 2007 when Timothy Ray Brown was the first to “cure” her HIV infection. Brown received stem cells from a donor who was innately resistant to HIV.
Since then, there have been only two cases of complete recovery, Adam Castilejo and the woman in New York.
All three of these HIV patients contracted cancer and needed a stem cell transplant to save their lives. HIV treatment was not the primary goal. In fact, it is risky to apply this treatment to all HIV patients.
What we must not forget is that with antiretroviral therapy, the conventional HIV treatment, even HIV patients can live close to life expectancy.
The main hopes for HIV treatment focus on preventive vaccines, or drugs that completely eliminate the virus from the body.
This woman received a cord blood transplant, and the two previous patients received adult stem cells as part of a bone marrow transplant.
Cord blood is more accessible than previously used adult stem cells. Also, it is not necessary to show a very high concordance rate between the donor and the recipient.
Sharon Lewin, incoming president of the International AIDS Association (IAS), warned that the transplant used in this case is not a viable treatment for all people living with HIV.
However, Lewin added that this case “confirms that a cure for HIV is possible, and further underscores the value of trying gene therapy for HIV treatment.”
A broader scientific understanding is still limited because the medical findings related to this recent cure have not yet been published in peer-reviewed journals.
