London. The oldest patient to date has been cured of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant for leukemia, researchers announced Wednesday.
While the transplant was designed to treat the patient’s leukemia, now 66, doctors also looked for a donor who was naturally resistant to the virus that causes AIDS, a mechanism that first worked to cure the patient. berlin patientTimothy Ray Brown in 2007.
The last patient, the fourth to be cured by this technology, is known as the patient of the city of hope by the US center in Duarte, California, where he was treated, because he does not want to be identified.
As well as being the oldest, the patient has also had HIV the longest, having been diagnosed in 1988 with what he described as a “death sentence” that killed many of his friends.
The man has been on antiretroviral therapy (ART) to control his condition for more than 30 years.
Doctors presenting the data ahead of the 2022 International AIDS Society (IAS) meeting said the case opened up the possibility for older HIV patients with blood cancers to access treatment, particularly as the stem cell donor he was not a member of the family.
Expect
Describing the cure as the “holy grail,” Sharon Lewin, president-elect of the IAS, said the case provides “constant hope… and inspiration” for people with HIV and the broader scientific community, though it is unlikely to be successful. an option for most cases due to the risks of the procedure.
Scientists believe the process works because the donor’s stem cells have a rare and specific genetic mutation, meaning they lack the receptors that HIV uses to infect cells.
After his transplant three and a half years ago, which followed chemotherapy, the patient from city of hope he stopped antiretroviral therapy in March 2021. He has been in remission from both HIV and leukemia for more than a year, the team said.
On Wednesday, researchers in Spain also presented details of a 59-year-old woman who is part of a rare group known as “under post-treatment control”. These people may maintain undetectable viral loads after stopping antiretroviral therapy and could offer clues to a possible cure, Lewin said.
Ahead of the IAS conference that begins on Friday, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) presented data showing how the covid-19 pandemic derailed global efforts to tackle HIV, including a reversal of progress in the world’s most populous countries of Asia and the Pacific.
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