Half of the study’s 8 subjects had HIV-4 received a stem cell transplant with cells from HIV-negative donors, whereas the other subjects acted as a control group and did not receive a transplant. Of the 4 macaques administered transplants, 2 were cured of HIV after successful treatment for graft-versus-host disease, a common comorbidity of stem cell transplants. This study was conducted in nonhuman primates called Mauritian cynomolgus macaques, which the study authors previously found are able to successfully receive stem cell transplants. In the subjects not cured of HIV, the virus jumped into transplanted donor cells while they were attacking HIV, which showed investigators that stopping HIV from using the CCR5 receptor to infect donor cells must happen to achieve a cure. This process is similar to what occurs in graft-versus-leukemia transplants. They also noted the order in which the body clears HIV, which may shed light on future efforts to make the cure applicable to a larger population.įirst, the transplanted donor stem cells identify HIV-infected cells and recognize them as foreign invaders before helping to eliminate these cells. The investigators found that 2 circumstances must coexist for a cure to be achieved. The current study outlines how 2 nonhuman primates were cured of the monkey form of HIV following a stem cell transplant. There have been 4 additional patients similarly cured of HIV after a stem cell transplant. The CCR5 mutation creates a challenge for HIV to infect more cells, thereby creating resistance to the virus. This gene normally codes for a receptor on the surface of white blood cells used by HIV to infect new cells. The Berlin patient received donated stem cells from a patient with a mutated CCR5 gene. The first stem cell transplant to achieve a functional HIV cure occurred in 2009 in a male who would become known as the “Berlin patient.” The patient, who was HIV-positive, was administered a stem cell transplant after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. We hope our discoveries will help to make this cure work for anyone, and ideally through a single injection instead of a stem cell transplant.” Umbilical cord blood is more widely available than the adult stem cells previously used and it does not require as close a match between donor and recipient.“Five patients have already demonstrated that HIV can be cured,” study lead researcher Jonah Sacha, PhD, professor at the OHSU Oregon National Primate Research Center and Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute, said in a press release. “This study is helping us home in on the mechanisms involved in making that cure happen. The woman’s treatment involved umbilical cord blood, unlike the two previous known cases where patients had received adult stem cells as part of bone marrow transplants. Since then the feat has been repeated only twice with Adam Castillejo and now the New York patient.Īll three had cancer and needed a stem cell transplant to save their lives. He had a transplant from a donor who was naturally resistant to HIV. The potential of stem cell transplants was demonstrated in 2007 when Timothy Ray Brown was the first person to be “cured” of HIV. Scientists believe the immune system of recipients can develop resistance to HIV as a result. The transplanted cells that were selected have a specific genetic mutation which means they can’t be infected by the HIV virus. The case was part of a larger US study of people living with HIV who had received the same type of blood transplant to treat cancer and serious diseases. The patient received a transplant of umbilical cord blood as part of her cancer treatment and has since not needed to take the antiretroviral therapy required to treat HIV. The patient’s case was presented at a medical conference in Denver on Tuesday and is the first time that this method is known to have been used as a functional cure for HIV. The woman has now been free of the virus for 14 months.īut experts say the transplant method used, involving umbilical cord blood, is too risky to be suitable for most people with HIV. The patient was being treated for leukaemia when she received a stem cell transplant from someone with natural resistance to the Aids-causing virus. A US patient is believed to be the third person in the world, and first woman, to be cured of HIV.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |