Viruses are no longer detectable in the body of an HIV patient in Switzerland after a bone marrow transplant. Worldwide, this only applies to five other people, the University Hospital of Geneva (HUG) said on Thursday.
In all of these cases, the transplant was from a donor with the rare CCR5 delta 32 gene mutation, known to make cells inherently resistant to HIV. However, the patient in Geneva received bone marrow from a donor who does not carry this mutation. The virus is no longer detectable in him 20 months after the end of the therapy. The man’s blood cells were completely replaced by the donor’s cells.
Lit and Leukemia
The patient has been living with HIV since the early 1990s and has been on antiretroviral therapy ever since. After being diagnosed with leukemia, he was treated with a stem cell transplant in 2018. Meanwhile, antiretroviral therapy was gradually phased out and finally discontinued in November 2021. Tests have since been performed that show neither virus particles nor an activatable virus reservoir or increased immune responses against the virus in the body.
These findings indicate a decrease in HIV infection, although the virus may still exist in the body. “What happened to me is beautiful, magical, we look to the future with optimism,” said the patient. “We are exploring new avenues with this unique situation in the hope that remission or even a cure for HIV is no longer an extraordinary event,” said Alexandra Calmy, head of HUG’s HIV/AIDS division.
The results of this case will be presented on 24 July at a conference in Brisbane. The University Hospital of Geneva collaborated with the Institut Pasteur in Paris.
Source: Krone
I am an experienced and passionate journalist with a strong track record in news website reporting. I specialize in technology coverage, breaking stories on the latest developments and trends from around the world. Working for Today Times Live has given me the opportunity to write thought-provoking pieces that have caught the attention of many readers.
