Calay News
A novel case has been presented in Brisbane ahead of the International AIDS Society Conference, which has generated great interest among scientists. This is a patient from Geneva who received a bone marrow transplant to treat an aggressive form of leukemia in 2018. What is surprising is that his donor did not have the CCR5 delta 32 mutation, known to block the HIV virus in cells.
Although five cases of patients probably cured of HIV by bone marrow transplants have previously been reported, they all shared one characteristic in common: their donor possessed the rare CCR5 delta 32 mutation that blocks the entry of HIV into cells.
However, in this new case, the patient did not receive a transplant with the CCR5 delta 32 mutation, and, surprisingly, twenty months after stopping his antiretroviral treatment, the virus remains undetectable in his body.
Although the scientific teams do not rule out the possibility that the virus still persists, they consider that it is a new remission of HIV infection. If no signs of the virus are detected after 12 months, the chances that it will be undetectable in the future are significantly increased.
Two possible explanations for this remission are put forward: perhaps the transplant eliminated all infected cells without the need for the CCR5 delta 32 mutation, or the immunosuppressive treatment required after the transplant may have played a role in the remission.
This case offers hope and opens up new avenues of research to better understand how HIV can be fought and long-term remissions achieved. Although bone marrow transplantation is not an option for everyone, this case suggests that immunosuppressive treatments could play an important role in future research.
It is important to closely monitor this patient’s progress in the coming months and years to learn more about the possibility of durable remissions from HIV and to continue exploring innate immune cells as a potential line of defense against the virus. The Geneva patient is optimistic and looks to the future with hope.
