A 53-year-old man from Dusseldorf, Germany, has become the fifth patient in the world to be cured of HIV following receiving a stem cell transplant. O The case was reported in the scientific journal Nature on Monday. (20/2).
The patient was followed up for ten years by the team of researchers from the University of Dusseldorf. The man, whose identity has not been revealed, was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia in 2011 and the year before, he had already tested positive for HIV.
In 2013, he underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The doctor responsible for the procedure said that, from the beginning, the intention of the surgery was to control both leukemia and AIDS.
undetectable virus
The medical team selected a donor with a mutation in the receptor on the cells that HIV uses to destroy the immune system. This therapy has already proved to be efficient in previously cured patients, as the genetic alteration makes the patient resistant to most strains of the virus, blocking the path of infection and making it difficult for HIV to reproduce in the body.
After surgery, the Dusseldorf patient underwent chemotherapy and received infusions of lymphocytes, immune cells that destroy cancer cells. In addition, he continued to treat HIV with antiretroviral therapy.
Six years following the transplant, in 2018, HIV was already undetectable in his body, which led him to stop taking the daily pills. For the next four years, he remained under the supervision of the team of doctors and researchers at the University of Dusseldorf, who concluded that the patient was in remission from AIDS.
The researchers say the patient’s medical history from Dusseldorf provides strong evidence that the stem cell transplant cured him of HIV. However, research must continue to allow patients to overcome AIDS without the need for a transplant, as this is a procedure with many associated risks.
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