Groundbreaking progress as seventh patient cured of HIV, sparking scientific optimism

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – A significant milestone in the fight against HIV has been reached, as a 60-year-old man from Germany becomes the seventh individual declared free of the virus after a stem-cell transplant.

This development, reported by Nature Journal on July 26 and authored by Smriti Mallapaty, has invigorated the scientific community.

The patient, diagnosed with HIV in 2009, received a stem-cell transplant in 2015 following a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia. Unlike previous cases, the stem cells he received were not entirely resistant to HIV.

His donor had only one copy of the mutated CCR5 gene, which is less effective in blocking the virus. Despite this, the patient has remained HIV-free for nearly six years, a remarkable achievement given the circumstances.

Ravindra Gupta, a microbiologist at the University of Cambridge, expressed his astonishment: “I am quite surprised that it worked. It’s a big deal.” Gupta previously led a team that treated another patient who was also cured of HIV.

Timothy Ray Brown, known as the Berlin patient, was the first person declared free of HIV after a bone-marrow transplant to treat blood cancer. His success, along with others who received donor stem cells with mutations in the CCR5 gene, suggested that targeting this gene was crucial for an HIV cure.

However, the new case challenges this notion. The patient, now referred to as the next Berlin patient, received stem cells from a donor with only one copy of the mutated CCR5 gene, indicating that a cure for HIV may not solely depend on this mutation.

Sharon Lewin, an infectious-disease physician and head of The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne, Australia, emphasized that this case broadens the potential for finding a cure: “It’s not all about CCR5.” This discovery could expand the donor pool for stem-cell transplants, a procedure typically reserved for those with leukemia due to its risks.

Globally, about 40 million people live with HIV. The ability to cure the next Berlin patient with a donor having only one copy of the CCR5 mutation provides new hope.

“This broadens the horizon of what might be possible,” stated Sara Weibel, a physician-scientist at the University of California, San Diego.

After the transplant in 2015, the patient's bone-marrow stem cells were replaced with the donor's within a month. He ceased taking antiretroviral drugs in 2018, and no evidence of HIV has been detected in his body since.

In past attempts to use stem cells from donors with regular CCR5 genes, the virus reemerged after patients stopped antiretroviral therapy. However, another patient, dubbed the Geneva patient, has been free of HIV for about 32 months following a similar procedure.

Researchers are now investigating why these two cases succeeded while others did not.

Possible explanations include the significant reduction of the virus in the body due to antiretroviral treatment and the destruction of host immune cells by chemotherapy before the transplant.

Additionally, the complete replacement of the patient's bone-marrow stem cells with the donor's might play a role. “If you can shrink the reservoir enough, you can cure people,” Lewin explained.

The fact that both the next Berlin patient and his donor had one mutated CCR5 gene copy might have provided an additional barrier to HIV. This case also offers insights for early-stage clinical trials using gene-editing techniques like CRISPR–Cas9 to remove the CCR5 receptor from a patient's cells.

These therapies might still be effective even if not all cells are modified.

This breakthrough represents a significant advancement in HIV treatment, inspiring new avenues of research and potential therapies for millions affected by the virus worldwide.