This happened after a stem cell transplant.
A seventh person was actually cured of HIV after a stem cell transplant almost ten years ago.
New York Time writes about this.
The 60-year-old German suffered from acute myeloid leukemia when he underwent risky surgery to replace his diseased bone marrow in October 2015.
He stopped taking antiretroviral drugs, which prevent HIV from multiplying, in September 2018. He is in viral remission and does not appear to have cancer.
“A healthy person has many desires, but a sick person has only one,” said a man who wished to remain anonymous about his progress.
Dr. Christian Gebler, a physician-scientist at the Charité University Medical Clinic in Berlin, will present this case next week at the 25th International AIDS Conference.
“The longer we see these remissions of HIV infection without any antiretroviral therapy, the more confident we are that we are probably looking at a case where we have truly eliminated all competent forms of HIV,” Gebler said.< /p>
At a press conference last week, International AIDS Society President Sharon Levine warned against using the word “cure.” However, she said, being in remission for more than five years meant he would be “close” to being considered cured.
There is one significant difference between the German's case and most others. Five of the six patients received stem cells from donors with two copies of a rare genetic mutation that stops HIV replication. A German patient became the first to receive stem cells from a donor with one copy of the mutated gene – and he himself had a copy of the gene. About 1% of Caucasians have two copies of the defective gene, and 10% to 18% of people with European heritage are estimated to have one copy of the gene, expanding the potential donor pool.
About 39 million people around the world live with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Only a few will be able to access treatment because it is intended for people with HIV and an aggressive form of leukemia.
Other people who have been “cured” of HIV
- Timothy Ray Brown, also known as the “Berlin Patient”, is considered the first person to be cured of HIV. He underwent two stem cell transplants, in 2007 and 2008. The leukemia returned and he passed away in September 2020 at the age of 54.
- Adam Castillejo, known as the “London Patient”, received a bone marrow transplant for lymphoma in 2016. He is now about 40 years old.
- Mark Franke, the “Düsseldorf patient,” underwent a stem cell transplant in 2013 to treat leukemia. The 55-year-old stopped antiretroviral therapy in 2018 and was declared “cured” last year.
- Paul Edmonds, known as the “City of Hope patient,” received a stem cell transplant in February 2019 and was publicly declared cured of HIV.
- The “New York Patient”, the first woman and mixed-race person to be “cured”, received a stem cell transplant in 2017 to treat leukemia.
- The “Geneva patient” is a man from Switzerland who underwent a stem cell transplant to treat blood cancer in 2018.
Recall that scientists have made a breakthrough in the search for eternal life by developing a drug that turns off a protein associated with aging. The rats in the study were dubbed “supermodel grannies.”
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