Research reveals a seventh case of probable cure for HIV after bone marrow transplant

A 60-year-old German, who no longer has any traces of HIV in his body, This is the seventh probable case of being cured of the virus after a bone marrow transplant, according to research published Thursday ahead of the 25th international AIDS conference.

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The man, who prefers to remain anonymous, is nicknamed the ‘New Berlin Patient’, in reference to the first ‘Berlin patient’, Timothy Ray Brown, the first person declared cured of HIV in 2008, and died of cancer in 2020.

The sexagenarian, diagnosed HIV-positive in 2009, received a bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia in 2015 and was able to stop taking antiretroviral treatment at the end of 2018.

Nearly six years later, he has no detectable viral load, according to researchers, who will present their work in Munich next week.

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Although they can’t be ‘absolutely safe’ that all traces of the presence of the virus have been eliminated, ‘This patient’s case is highly suggestive of a cure for HIV,’ Christian Gaebler, a doctor at Berlin’s Charité hospital who is treating the patient, told AFP.

With more than five years of remission, this German ‘would be close’ to be considered cured, said Sharon Lewin, president of the International AIDS Society, during a press conference.

His case differs from other long-term remissions, he noted.

All other patients except one, had received stem cells from bone marrow donors who had a rare mutation in a gene called CCR5. That prevents HIV from entering cells.

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The donors in the above cases were people who inherited two copies of the mutated gene, one from each parent. What he did to them ‘practically immune’ to HIV.

The new patient from Berlin is the first to receive stem cells from a donor who only inherited one copy. It is a much more common configuration that gives hope of finding more potential donors.

He ‘Geneva patient’, revealed in 2023, is another exception. Since he received a transplant from a donor who did not present any mutation of this gene.

Less 1% of the population carries this protective HIV mutation. It is therefore very rare for a compatible bone marrow donor to have this mutation.

AFP