A seventh case of HIV cure reported at AIDS 2024
25 July 2024 | World Health Organization
During the 25th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2024), being held in Munich, Germany, a new case of long HIV remission was reported and fuels optimism for an eventual HIV cure.
In 2007, Timothy Brown, the so-called first Berlin patient, was the first person to be considered cured of HIV. He underwent a stem cell transplant to treat leukaemia from a donor carrying a rare genetic mutation CCR5-delta 32, which is known to provide genetic resistance to HIV – making his reconstituted immune cells (CD4 cells) unable to be infected with HIV.
Although Timothy died due to recurrent leukaemia in 2020, the success of his treatment has led to four other people following similar treatments and being in sustained remission. One additional case reported in 2023 has been treated with a non-HIV resistant stem cell transplant (taken from a donor who does not carry this mutation) and is also in prolonged HIV remission.
The new case (1) presented at AIDS 2024 is a 60-year-old German man living with HIV who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia and underwent a blood stem cell transplant in 2015 from a donor with the CCR5-delta 32 mutation. However, the stem cell donor had a single instead of a double CCR5-delta 32 mutation, which is an important difference, as the cells were not fully immune to HIV. He stopped his antiretroviral treatment in late 2018 and since then, HIV has not been found in multiple samples, including biopsies of intestinal tissue and ultrasensitive viral techniques.
This case does not have immediate or direct clinical implications, as stem cell transplant procedures are complex, carry significant risk and have been reserved only for those patients requiring the transplant due to the presence of a malignancy. However, the results reinvigorate the call for continued research into techniques that can simulate these resistant cells in HIV patients, such as gene editing techniques.
This report confirms the existence of several routes to explore different interventions to stimulate specific stem cells to reach long-term HIV control and cure. If patients can use stem cell transplant donors with only a single mutation in the CCR5 receptor, this potential HIV cure strategy could be more widely used, as this genetic profile is more frequently found.
“The second Berlin patient confirms that we are moving in the right direction, but we have to support more research before long-term HIV remission or HIV cure becomes a reality for people living with HIV,” said Dr Meg Doherty, Director of WHO Global HIV, Hepatitis and STI Programmes. “While we are very excited about this next case of potential HIV cure, we recognize that to achieve the goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030, the global HIV response must continue to promote HIV testing, expand effective ART coverage, and focus on reaching the people most affected and at greatest risk.”
Reference
1. Gaebler C et al. The next Berlin patient: sustained HIV remission surpassing five years without antiretroviral therapy after heterozygous CCR5 WT/Δ32 allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. 25th International AIDS Conference, Munich, Germany, 22-26 July 2024. Oral abstract.
WHO Media Team
World Health Organization
Email: mediainquiries@who.in
Source: World Health Organization (WHO)
https://www.who.int/news/item/25-07-2024-a-seventh-case-of-hiv-remission-reported-at-aids-2024
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