A bone marrow transplant is not a realistic option for most patients. These transplants are very invasive and risky, so they are usually...
A bone marrow transplant is not a realistic option for most patients. These transplants are very invasive and risky, so they are usually only offered to people with cancer who have exhausted all other options.
There have been only two known cases of HIV recovery so far. Nicknamed “the patient from Berlin”, Timothy Ray Brown remained virus-free for 12 years, until his death in 2020 from cancer. In 2019, another patient, identified later like Adam Castillejo, is said to have been cured of HIV, confirming Mr Brown’s case was no accident.
Both men received bone marrow transplants from donors with a mutation that blocks HIV infection. The mutation has only been identified in about 20,000 donors, most of whom are of northern European origin.
In previous cases, while bone marrow transplants replaced their entire immune systems, both men suffered from punitive side effects, including graft-versus-host disease, a condition in which donor cells attack the donor’s body. recipient. Mr Brown nearly died after his transplant. The treatment of Mr. Castillejo was less intense, but in the year after his transplanthe lost nearly 70 pounds, developed hearing loss and survived multiple infections, according to his doctors.
In contrast, the woman in the latest case was discharged from hospital on day 17 after her transplant and did not develop graft-versus-host disease, said Dr. JingMei Hsu, the patient’s physician at Weill Cornell Medicine. . The combination of cord blood and his parent’s cells could have spared him many of the brutal side effects of a typical bone marrow transplant, Dr. Hsu said.
“It was previously thought that graft-versus-host disease might be an important reason for an HIV cure in previous cases,” said Dr Sharon Lewin, president-elect of the International AIDS Society, who was not involved in the work. The new results dispel that idea, Dr. Lewin said.
The woman, who is now past middle age (she did not want to reveal her exact age for privacy reasons), was diagnosed HIV-positive in June 2013. Antiretroviral drugs kept her virus count low. In March 2017, she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.
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