The woman may have been cured of HIV after stem cell transplant

The New York patient may be the first woman and third person in the world to recover from the virus. For now, the innovative treatment is limited to specific cases, but it brings hope for more treatments in the future. The American became the third person and the first woman likely to be cured of HIV after undergoing a stem cell transplant from a donor with a natural resistance. of the virus that causes AIDS. The announcement was made on Tuesday (15/02) during a conference in Denver (Colorado, USA) by the team of specialists who treated the 64-year-old patient in New York. The research has not yet been published in a scientific journal. The woman, known as the “New York patient,” was first diagnosed with HIV and then acute myeloid leukemia, a type of cancer associated with decreased production of normal blood cells in the bone marrow. As a treatment for leukemia, she received a stem cell transplant from the umbilical cord, with the addition of adult cells donated by a relative. Three years after transplantation, the patient stopped using antiretroviral medication to control the virus. And after 14 months, he had no detectable levels of HIV, according to the scientists. Therefore, it is considered free of the virus and will be considered cured if there is no change. The two previous HIV treatments occurred in men who received adult stem cells, which are often used in bone marrow transplants. The cells transplanted into the three known cures came from individuals with a genetic mutation that makes them resistant to the virus. “This is the third report of a treatment in this setting, and the first by a woman living with HIV,” said Sharon Lewin, president-elect of AIDS International. Large study The New York Patient case is part of a large US government-supported study led by researchers Yvonne Bryson of UCLA and Deborah Persaud of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The goal is to accompany 25 people living with HIV undergoing umbilical cord stem cell transplants to treat cancer and other serious conditions. As part of the study, patients first undergo chemotherapy and then receive stem cell transplants from individuals who carry the mutation that causes them to lack the receptors that HIV uses to infect cells. Scientists believe that patients then develop an immune system that is resistant to the virus. Hope for a cure for more people According to scientists, the use of umbilical cord blood does not require the same level of donor-recipient matching required in the case of adult cells, which could make this type of treatment available to more people. In any case, experts point out that the treatment of HIV through stem cell transplants is still limited to cases in which the patient has cancer or another serious illness that justifies such a complex and deadly procedure. For now, stem cell therapy “remains a viable strategy for the handful of millions of people living with HIV,” Persaud told NBC. However, Lewin of the International AIDS Society said the new case “confirms that HIV treatment is feasible and strengthens the use of gene therapy as a viable strategy.” lf (Effie, Reuters)

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