Man, 60, declared ‘free’ of HIV after revolutionary cancer treatment – making him the 7th person to be ‘cured’

A SEVENTH person has been “cured” of HIV after revolutionary stem cell treatment, it is hoped.

The man, 60, who also had acute myeloid leukaemia when he had the procedure to replace his bone marrow in October 2015, is now thought to be free of both diseases.

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“A healthy person has many wishes, a sick person only one,” he said.

The patient, from Germany, who wishes to remain anonymous, has been dubbed “the next Berlin patient”.

The original Berlin patient, Timothy Ray Brown, was the first person to be declared “cured” of HIV in 2008. He died from cancer in 2020.

The second man’s long-term HIV remission was announced ahead of the 25th International AIDS Conference in Munich next week.

He was first diagnosed with HIV in 2009, according to the research abstract being presented at the event.

The man received a bone marrow transplant for his leukaemia – a type of blood cancer that affects blood cells in your bone marrow – in 2015.

The procedure, which has a 10 per cent risk of death, essentially replaces a person’s immune system.

He then stopped taking antiretroviral drugs – which reduce the amount of HIV in the blood – in late 2018.

Nearly six years later, he appears to be both HIV and cancer free, the medical researchers said.

Christian Gaebler, from Berlin’s Charite University Hospital, where the man was being treated, said that the team cannot be “absolutely certain” every last trace of HIV has been eradicated.

But “the patient’s case is highly suggestive of an HIV cure,” Gaebler added.

“He feels well and is enthusiastic about contributing to our research efforts.”

International AIDS Society President Sharon Lewin said researchers hesitate to use the word “cure” because it is not clear how long they need to follow up such cases.

But more than five years in remission means the man “would be close” to being considered cured, she told a press conference.

There is an important difference between the man’s case and the six other HIV patients who have reached long-term remission, she said.

The longer we see these HIV remissions without any HIV therapy, the more confidence we can get that we’re probably seeing a case where we really have eradicated all competent HIV

Dr Christian Gaebler

All but one received stem cells from donors with a rare mutation in which part of their CCR5 gene was missing, blocking HIV from entering their body’s cells.

Those donors had inherited two copies of the mutated CCR5 gene – one from each parent – making them “essentially immune” to HIV, Ms Lewin said.

But the new Berlin patient is the first to have received stem cells from a donor who had inherited only one copy of the mutated gene.

Around 15 per cent of people from European origin have one mutated copy, compared to one per cent for both.

HUGE PROMISE

Researchers hope the latest success means there will be a much larger potential donor pool in the future.

The new case is also “promising” for the wider search for an HIV cure that works for all patients, Ms Lewin said.

“This is because it suggests that you don’t actually have to get rid of every single piece of CCR5 for gene therapy to work,” she added.

The Geneva patient, whose case was announced at last year’s AIDS conference, is the other exception among the seven.

He received a transplant from a donor without any CCR5 mutations, yet still achieved long-term remission.

This showed that the effectiveness of the procedure was not just down to the CCR5 gene, Ms Lewin said.

HIV is a virus that damages the cells in your immune system and weakens your ability to fight everyday infections and disease.

An estimated 106,890 people are living with the condition in the UK.

In most cases, it spreads through unprotected sexual contact with an infected person.

Most people will experience flu-like symptoms two to six weeks after being infected.

This tends to include a sore throat, fever and a rash all over the body, which lasts one to two weeks.

After this, HIV may not cause any symptoms at all, but the virus continues to damage your immune system.

Some people go on to experience weight loss, night sweats, thrush in the mouth, an increase in herpes or cold sore outbreaks, swollen glands in the groin, neck or armpit, long-lasting diarrhoea, and tiredness.

While there is no cure for HIV, there are very effective treatments that enable most people with the virus to live long and healthy lives.

Medication now reduces the amount of the virus in the body to the point of being undetectable, meaning it cannot be transmitted.

Dr Gaebler said: “The longer we see these HIV remissions without any HIV therapy, the more confidence we can get that we’re probably seeing a case where we really have eradicated all competent HIV.”

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