[Source: Science and Technology Daily]
According to foreign media news, researchers reported on the 27th that a 66-year-old leukemia patient has achieved long-term remission of AIDS after receiving stem cell transplantation, or has achieved “cure”. This is the fourth AIDS patient in the world to be declared “cured” and the oldest patient at present.
Color electron microscope image of HIV virus. Source: ABC website
This patient is being treated at City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte, California, USA. Because he did not want to be named, he was called the “City of Hope” patient. Currently, he has been off antiretroviral therapy (ART) for 17 months and has yet to show any signs of HIV replication in his body.
In addition to being the oldest, this patient has also been infected with HIV for the longest time. He was diagnosed with AIDS in 1988. For 30 years, he has been on ART to manage his condition, but it has failed to effectively treat AIDS.
In 2018, the patient developed acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. He underwent chemotherapy to relieve the leukemia. Due to his older age, he underwent lower-intensity chemotherapy in preparation for a stem cell transplant.
The doctors then performed a hematopoietic stem cell transplant using cells from a donor with a rare genetic mutation. The mutation, called homozygous CCR5 delta 32, makes its carriers resistant to HIV by altering the entrance the virus normally uses to invade human white blood cells. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation This is an improved therapy that is better tolerated by older adults with blood cancers and reduces the likelihood of transplant-related complications. This method originally cured the “Berlin patient” Timothy Ray Brown in 2007.
This City of Hope patient stopped receiving ART in March 2021. His AIDS and leukemia were in remission for more than a year, the team said.
Ahead of the 24th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2022) on the 29th, the doctors presenting the data said the case offers the possibility of access to treatment for elderly patients with AIDS and blood cancer, especially is when the donor is not a family member.
International AIDS Society president-elect Sharon Levine said the case provided “continued hope and encouragement” for people living with HIV and the wider scientific community, even though it was not due to surgical risks. Likely to be the choice for most people living with HIV.
Scientists believe the process works because the donor’s stem cells have a special, rare genetic mutation that means they lack the receptors that HIV uses to infect cells.
On the 27th, researchers in Spain also released details of a 59-year-old woman, one of the few groups known as “post-treatment controllers.” Although she stopped receiving ART, she maintained an undetectable viral load for 15 years, which could provide clues to a potential treatment, Levine said.
(Source: Science and Technology Daily)
[Editor: Wang Rongfei]
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author, if the source is wrong or infringes your copyright Legitimate rights, you can contact us by email, we will deal with it in time. Email address: [email protected]