The fourth case
Scientists told about an American woman cured of HIV after stem cell transplantation
Researchers reported that in the United States, a woman managed to recover from HIV after a stem cell transplant. This is reported by CNN.
The patient's name is not called, the researchers reported that she is "middle-aged and of mixed race." Four years after the patient was diagnosed with HIV, doctors diagnosed her with myeloid leukemia. After that, she received high-dose chemotherapy, which destroyed her blood cells. Later, she underwent stem cell transplantation from an unrelated newborn. There was a mutation resistant to HIV in the umbilical cord blood. In addition, she underwent a transplant from an adult relative to produce blood cells in her body.
A little more than three years after the transplant, the woman stopped taking antiretroviral therapy. 14 months after that, HIV was not detected in her body.
A member of the research team, Marshall Glesby, said that cord blood is taken from the national repository, which allows scientists to find samples with a mutation resistant to HIV. However, this type of mutation occurs mainly in people of Northern European origin, which makes it difficult for non-Caucasian races to transplant. However, the patient is a representative of a mixed race and the transplant suited her, which may indicate a wider range of people of different races who can undergo such a procedure.
The head of the study, Yvonne Bryson, said that the patient has also been in remission for cancer for 4.5 years. She did not have a graft-versus-host reaction (when donor cells attack recipient cells after transplantation) unlike the other two known patients who were cured of HIV also after transplantation.
However, the researchers note that this type of treatment is suitable for a limited group of people — those who need a transplant for other medical reasons, for example, because of cancer. Glesby noted that stem cell transplantation in 20% of cases can lead to death or cause other health problems.
The first person who was officially recognized as cured of HIV was an American Timothy Ray Brown, who was later called the "Berlin patient". In 2007, he underwent two bone marrow transplants in Berlin, which helped to gain immunity to HIV. Brown passed away last fall. His partner Tim Hoffgen said that he had been struggling with leukemia for five months.
Adam Castillejo, a resident of London, who was later called the "London patient", was also cured of HIV. It was also reported about the possible recovery of the patient in Germany after transplantation. In addition, two cases of getting rid of HIV without therapy are known.
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