Worldwide, seven people (two patients from Berlin, one each from London, Düsseldorf, New York, City of Hope and Geneva) are considered probably cured of HIV infection after receiving a bone marrow transplant for the treatment of blood cancer.
The particularity of the patient from Geneva, followed at HUG, in collaboration with thePasteur Institutel’Institut Cochin and the IciStem consortiumlies in the fact that the graft came from a donor who did not carry the famous CCR5 delta 32 mutation. In the other cases, in fact, the graft came from a donor carrying at least one copy of this rare genetic mutation known to make CD4 cells naturally resistant to HIV. Despite this, the virus remains undetectable, almost three years after the interruption of antiretroviral treatment.
Close and prolonged monitoring of this patient allowed the research teams to highlight a progressive reduction in the viral reservoir following the transplant. The virus-carrying cells capable of multiplying, which were easily detected before the transplant, are no longer detectable during the latest analyses.
For more information: Press release of July 20, 2023
DOI : doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024- 3277-z D
