First woman reported cured of HIV after stem cell transplant

[baddisease 17,924]

CHICAGO, Feb 15 (Reuters) - A U.S. patient with leukemia has become the first woman and the third person to date to be cured of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant from a donor who was naturally resistant to the virus that causes AIDS, researchers reported on Tuesday.

 

The case of a middle-aged woman of mixed race, presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunisitic Infections in Denver, is also the first involving umbilical cord blood, a newer approach that may make the treatment available to more people.

 

Since receiving the cord blood to treat her acute myeloid leukemia - a cancer that starts in blood-forming cells in the bone marrow - the woman has been in remission and free of the virus for 14 months, without the need for potent HIV treatments known as antiretroviral therapy.

 

The two prior cases occurred in males - one white and one Latino - who had received adult stem cells, which are more frequently used in bone marrow transplants.

 

"This is now the third report of a cure in this setting, and the first in a woman living with HIV," Sharon Lewin, President-Elect of the International AIDS Society, said in a statement.

 

The case is part of a larger U.S.-backed study led by Dr. Yvonne Bryson of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and Dr. Deborah Persaud of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. It aims to follow 25 people with HIV who undergo a transplant with stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood for the treatment of cancer and other serious conditions.

 

Patients in the trial first undergo chemotherapy to kill off the cancerous immune cells. Doctors then transplant stem cells from individuals with a specific genetic mutation in which they lack receptors used by the virus to infect cells.

 

Scientists believe these individuals then develop an immune system resistant to HIV.

 

Lewin said bone marrow transplants are not a viable strategy to cure most people living with HIV. But the report "confirms that a cure for HIV is possible and further strengthens using gene therapy as a viable strategy for an HIV cure," she said.

 

The study suggests that an important element to the success is the transplantation of HIV-resistant cells. Previously, scientists believed that a common stem cell transplant side effect called graft-versus-host disease, in which the donor immune system attacks the recipient’s immune system, played a role in a possible cure.

 

"Taken together, these three cases of a cure post stem cell transplant all help in teasing out the various components of the transplant that were absolutely key to a cure," Lewin said.

 

First woman reported cured of HIV after stem cell transplant | Reuters

[The Siren 30,521]

and she's the third human

[Paris Hilton 9,845]

This is great!

[whitelungswhitepalms 10,090]

I asked my prep doctor about this, and he said that even tho this is great and has happened before as mentioned, stem cell transplant is very deadly.

 

a step into a future where HIV can be cured, but we still have a ways to go Still exciting 

[baddisease 17,924]

1 hour ago, whitelungswhitepalms said:

I asked my prep doctor about this, and he said that even tho this is great and has happened before as mentioned, stem cell transplant is very deadly.

 

a step into a future where HIV can be cured, but we still have a ways to go Still exciting 

 

I didn't know sct was deadly! 

 

I know that with the invention of Cabenuva (the super long acting HIV medication) is one step towards a functional cure, since you don't need to take it every single day. Eventually we'll be able to make it so people with HIV can go for a year or longer without having to worry about medication.