Dec 02, 2025
3 min read
The 60-year-old was an HIV carrier and developed leukemia and had a stem cell transplant for him with a mutation that protects against AIDS;six years after the transplant there are no traces of the virus in his body
They document a concrete case of HIV remission after stem cell transplantation in a cancer patient
In 2010, doctors presented to the world the case of the neck of Timothy Ray, known since then as the "Berlin patient", the first person considered capable of curing HIV.
A decade later, the Gausterber team at the Chaité Hospital described a new phenomenon of this system called the "doctor's second patient".Although he is the seventh patient with HIV resistance so far, his case is very unique.
Expanding alternatives
The patient is a 60-year-old man from Berlin who was diagnosed with HIV in 2009 and developed acute myeloid leukemia in 2015, according to the authors who describe the case in an article published Monday in the journal Nature. The patient underwent an allogeneic stem cell transplant to treat the cancer, although no homozygous CCR5 Δ32 donor could be found.However, three years after transplantation from a heterozygous donor, the patient discontinued antiretroviral therapy, and no evidence of HIV-1 replication was detected six years after transplantation.
This finding provides further evidence that there are CCR5-expressing cells that HIV seeks after stem cell transplantation.
Researchers believe this increases the risk of other types of cancer developing in these types of patients.These findings provide further evidence that the presence of cells without CCR5 is not necessary for HIV remission following tele-treatment.Recently, a case has emerged (called "Dirty Geneva) of the use of stem cells without a donor from CCR5δ32, which means - it is not necessary to obtain remission.
Javiier Martínez-Porodo, Occuba Tofotolosi Assistant Professor in the Isaina of Isaina, and warns of the type of medicine that is specially corrected for people with severe.The fact that there are heterozygogos life, he explained to the SMC, "where to neglect the last year."
Juliá Blanco, head of the virology and cellular immunology group at the IrsiCaixa AIDS Research Institute, agrees that this is excellent work.According to him, the study provides two important pieces of information regarding other previously reported cases."First of all, this case confirms that there is no need for a donor who does not have the HIV coreceptor CCR5," he told SMC."Secondly, the authors suggest a relevant role for the presence of protective antibodies (neutralizing and ADCC mediators) at the time of transplantation. This is the first time that this phenomenon has been described."
Although these patients represent important proof of concept that HIV can be used, they cannot be cured.
"It is a very high-quality work that has an important impact," he is the head of the HIV-AIDS department in a hospital clinic in Barcelona."The reported cases, everything except Geneva (engozy) will not be published.
However, for Mallolas, there are also very important limitations."Although these patients are important evidence that HIV can be eradicated, they are not the general case," he assures SMC."These are all patients with tumors, usually blood disorders, who receive very aggressive treatments where complications can sometimes be fatal. It would not be logical or ethical to subject a patient to these very aggressive treatments unless they had a serious underlying reproductive problem."
