A stem cell transplant has cured a man of HIV, researchers have announced.

The Dusseldorf Patient, 53, is only the third person to be cured of the condition using the treatment.

He appears to be the fifth person in total to be cured overall.

He had not taken anti-retroviral medicine, or suppressants, for four years and has not relapsed.

Similar to the other two patients - one in Berlin and another in London), the man, in Dusseldorf, had the transplant to treat a blood disorder, which in his case was leukaemia, that had developed alongside the HIV infection.

More than 10 years after the transplant and four years after ending his HIV therapy, he is in good health.

"I still remember very well the sentence of my family doctor: 'Don't take it so hard. We will experience together that HIV can be cured'," he said.

"At the time, I dismissed the statement as an alibi. Today, I am all the more proud of my worldwide team of doctors who succeeded in curing me of HIV - and at the same time, of course, of leukaemia.

"On Valentine's Day this year, I celebrated the 10th anniversary of my bone marrow transplant in a big way. My bone marrow donor was present as a guest of honour."

Researchers say the virus not returning is the result of thorough scientific and therapeutic preparation and monitoring, adding the study is the longest and most precise diagnostic monitoring of a patient following a stem cell transplantation.

A transplant destroys any unhealthy blood cells and replaces them with healthy ones removed from blood or bone marrow, and due to their high risk, are only carried out within the framework of treating other life-threatening conditions.

The team, which is led by medics at Dusseldorf University Hospital, hope the information they have gained will help more studies into cures for HIV.

Research should now be continued, experts suggest, to help HIV patients overcome infections without the need for this kind of strenuous intervention in the future.

The Dusseldorf Patient was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), a form of life-threatening blood cancer, six months after starting his HIV therapy, and underwent the stem cell transplant in 2013.

Then, in 2018, after planning and constant monitoring by doctors, the anti-viral HIV therapy - which had ensured any residual HIV was kept under control up to that point - was ended.

On behalf of the international team, Dr Bjorn-Erik Ole Jensen said: "Following our intensive research, we can now confirm that it is fundamentally possible to prevent the replication of HIV on a sustainable basis by combining two key methods.

"On the one hand, we have the extensive depletion of the virus reservoir in long-lived immune cells, and on the other hand, the transfer of HIV resistance from the donor immune system to the recipient, ensuring that the virus has no chance to spread again.

"Further research is now needed into how this can be made possible outside the narrow set of framework conditions we have described."

The Nature Medicine journal has published the study.

In recent years, a man from California has been cured of the condition after his diagnosis in 1988, while Timothy Ray Brown, known as the Berlin Patient, was cured in 2007 - but later died from cancer.

The following submission statement was provided by /u/esprit-de-lescalier:

A stem cell transplant has cured a man of HIV, researchers have announced.

The Dusseldorf Patient, 53, is only the third person to be cured of the condition using the treatment.

He appears to be the fifth person in total to be cured overall.

He had not taken anti-retroviral medicine, or suppressants, for four years and has not relapsed.

Similar to the other two patients - one in Berlin and another in London), the man, in Dusseldorf, had the transplant to treat a blood disorder, which in his case was leukaemia, that had developed alongside the HIV infection.

More than 10 years after the transplant and four years after ending his HIV therapy, he is in good health.

"I still remember very well the sentence of my family doctor: 'Don't take it so hard. We will experience together that HIV can be cured'," he said.

"At the time, I dismissed the statement as an alibi. Today, I am all the more proud of my worldwide team of doctors who succeeded in curing me of HIV - and at the same time, of course, of leukaemia.

"On Valentine's Day this year, I celebrated the 10th anniversary of my bone marrow transplant in a big way. My bone marrow donor was present as a guest of honour."

Researchers say the virus not returning is the result of thorough scientific and therapeutic preparation and monitoring, adding the study is the longest and most precise diagnostic monitoring of a patient following a stem cell transplantation.

A transplant destroys any unhealthy blood cells and replaces them with healthy ones removed from blood or bone marrow, and due to their high risk, are only carried out within the framework of treating other life-threatening conditions.

The team, which is led by medics at Dusseldorf University Hospital, hope the information they have gained will help more studies into cures for HIV.

Research should now be continued, experts suggest, to help HIV patients overcome infections without the need for this kind of strenuous intervention in the future.

The Dusseldorf Patient was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), a form of life-threatening blood cancer, six months after starting his HIV therapy, and underwent the stem cell transplant in 2013.

Then, in 2018, after planning and constant monitoring by doctors, the anti-viral HIV therapy - which had ensured any residual HIV was kept under control up to that point - was ended.

On behalf of the international team, Dr Bjorn-Erik Ole Jensen said: "Following our intensive research, we can now confirm that it is fundamentally possible to prevent the replication of HIV on a sustainable basis by combining two key methods.

"On the one hand, we have the extensive depletion of the virus reservoir in long-lived immune cells, and on the other hand, the transfer of HIV resistance from the donor immune system to the recipient, ensuring that the virus has no chance to spread again.

"Further research is now needed into how this can be made possible outside the narrow set of framework conditions we have described."

The Nature Medicine journal has published the study.

In recent years, a man from California has been cured of the condition after his diagnosis in 1988, while Timothy Ray Brown, known as the Berlin Patient, was cured in 2007 - but later died from cancer.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/117grzl/third_person_cured_of_hiv_after_stem_cell/j9biis1/

I guess this kind of resistance of HIV is rare... Will the donor become unsafe because of bone marrow hunting of the black market? The worst may be him being locked up in some restricted living places.

I'm bored, so I asked ChatGPT. Answer is as follows.

​

​

It is true that the CCR5 mutation is relatively rare in the general population, occurring in less than 1% of people of European descent and even less frequently in other populations. However, it is important to note that the use of stem cell transplants to treat HIV is a highly specialized and complex procedure that is typically only used in cases of life-threatening blood disorders or cancer.

The selection of a bone marrow donor involves careful matching based on several factors, including blood type and other genetic markers. The donor must also undergo a thorough medical screening process to ensure that they are healthy and able to donate bone marrow safely. So, the illegal harvesting of bone marrow is unlikely to occur, as the process requires significant medical expertise and infrastructure.

It is also worth noting that stem cell transplants carry significant risks, including the potential for severe side effects such as infection, graft-versus-host disease, and even death. Therefore, stem cell transplants are typically reserved for cases where the potential benefits outweigh the risks, and they are not a viable option for most people with HIV.

In summary, while the CCR5 mutation is rare, the risk of illegal bone marrow harvesting is low, and stem cell transplants are a complex and risky procedure that is reserved for specific cases of life-threatening conditions.

Something I did not pick up on from the summary is that the stem cell donor has some natural HIV resistance, which seems like a critical element of this.

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Have any HIV cure been revisited to see if HIV still exists after a long period?

this break though would have made headlines so this info is bogus

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I'd be very careful in seeking factual answers from ChatGPT. ChatGPT can't provide refefences and citations, so it's very hard to back up its claims. It might make an answer that sounds convincing, there's no guarantee for it to be factual. It's a language model, not an encyclopedia.

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I've seen it reported elsewhere as the 5th person to be cured.

FTFY (Fifthed that for you)

Narrator: It WAS making headlines

Even if you ask it for reference and citations it makes those up too lol

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After living though the AIDS crisis in the 90s and how BIG of a deal it was, it's so weird to me how generally ignored it's been that it's not only no longer a death sentence but also now potentially curable. Probably because it's been a long slow road rather than one miracle cure, but still something I would have never imagined back then. Like, ya it's reported but it's not a huge world shaking headline.

I noticed this when using this for my programming. A’lot of times its right, but you can’t just blindly follow it. Because theres a’lot of times there’s something wrong with the code but I’d say its 75% - 90% right then. Still a huge time saver. It even documents code or finds bugs. But its far from perfect but I’m hoping it will get there.

Can a person “recatch” it again? Or do they develop immunity? Since almost all cases are lifestyle related, this method of “curing” it seems like only a temporary, and very painful and intrusive, solution, versus developing a vaccine against it.

New Henrietta Lax situation?

Not really. Bone marrow transplants are very dangerous and require HLA types to match. HLA type is like blood type matching except way more specific. The chances of a person having matching HLA types with someone else is close to zero. Sadly, it's not uncommon for people who actually need bone marrow transplants to die because no registered donors compatible with them could be found.

Nice one.
What goes around, comes around

niiice. a rabbit hole. i'm off in, see you in a few days.