The leukemia patient became the first woman in the world to be cured of HIV. The therapy used to treat this cancer helped her get rid of the virus. Previously, two men were cured of HIV, also in a similar way.
- A middle-aged American woman who has been treated for leukemia for four years, has been HIV-free for 14 months
- The remission came after her stem cells had been transplanted from a naturally HIV-resistant donor
- The donor blood contained a mutation in the DNA that blocked HIV entry into the body
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The first woman to be cured of HIV
The cure was announced at a medical conference in Denver. The case concerns an unknown middle-aged American woman infected with HIV ten years ago, who had been treated since 2017 for acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer of the bone marrow.
The woman was cured of HIV after she had been transplanted with stem cells from a donor that was naturally immune to the virus that causes AIDS. Since receiving umbilical cord blood 14 months ago, the woman has been in remission (withdrawal of the disease or symptoms), i.e. HIV-free. They do not need to undergo antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to treat HIV infection.
The two previous cases involved men, a white and a Hispanic. Their therapy also uses stem cells, which are used for bone marrow transplants. The first of the men was HIV-free for ten years and died of cancer in 2020. The second has been in remission for two years.
“This is the third case of recovery in this environment and the first of a woman living with HIV,” said Sharon Lewin, president-elect of the International AIDS Society.
A cure for HIV is possible
The case of the American woman is part of a larger American study led by Dr. Yvonne Bryson of the University of California (UCLA) and Dr. Deborah Persaud of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. It is attended by 25 HIV-infected people who have already had umbilical cord stem cells transplanted. Such therapy is most often used in the treatment of cancer.
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Patients in the study first receive chemotherapy to destroy cancer cells. They are then transplanted with stem cells from people with a specific CCR5 delta-32 genetic mutation. As a result of this mutation, cells are deprived of the receptors used by HIV to penetrate and infect. According to the researchers, patients develop an immune system that is resistant to HIV through such therapy.
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Lewin noted that bone marrow transplantation is not a common treatment for people living with HIV. But the case mentioned confirms that “a cure from HIV is possible, further underlining the importance of gene therapy as a viable HIV treatment strategy,” she said. However, the key here is the transplantation of HIV-resistant cells.
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