Table of contents

overview

It did all the following:

There is no replication of HIV in his body.

How this Treatment works

Bring in risks for infection and complications; 

A New History of Expectations 

A Message of Hope to Millions 

overview

After the highly specialized and highly effective stem cell therapy, this man definitely had his HIV cured. This wonderful breakthrough in medicine will be regarded as one of the greatest milestones ever achieved in the forty-year HIV/AIDS battle, as it renews hope for millions of people worldwide. This wonderful breakthrough in medicine stands as one of the greatest milestones ever achieved in the forty-year HIV/AIDS battle, renewing hope for millions of people worldwide.

It did all the following:

In an advanced stem cell transplant, the immune system of the patient affected by the unusual genetic mutation CCR5-Δ32 was replaced with donor cells. This mutation provides innate resistance to HIV by blocking the entry route for this virus into immunological cells. 

Following the transplantation, the donor stem cells reconstituted the entire immune system of this poor patient. This patient was followed for several months by the researchers with highly sensitive tests, which were positive in confirming that:

There is no replication of HIV in his body.

Once his immune system reconstructed itself with the help of designed anti-HIV cells, the man required no further antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Thus, the complete disappearance of the virus from his body was brought about by a combination of genetically induced resistance and replacement of the immune system with donor cells. This treatment is therefore termed a functional cure.

How this Treatment works

Milestone Prowess: Stem Cell Treatment Cures HIV Patient. Milestone Prowess: Stem Cell Treatment Cures HIV Patient.

HIV is a known virus that targets certain immune cells in the body, with CD4 being the primary cell affected. The CCR5-Δ32 mutation prevents the entry of HIV into those cells, thus creating a very high probability that infection would not occur; therefore, immune transplantation, in whole, from such a patient carrying this mutation, will make that immune system fully protected from HIV.

Of course, under all conditions proper from the biological point of view, HIV infection would be treated. 

Not a cure, but not yet 

Experts, however, caution against assuming that stem cell transplantation could offer an option for the vast majority of HIV-positive individuals now or in the near future. Such procedures:

Bring in risks for infection and complications; 

They usually cost astronomical sums and require significant input of resources. 

Reserved primarily for cancer patients suffering life-threatening diseases for whom undergoing such a transplant is medically mandatory. 

Yet this case—and the few others similar to it reported in recent years—has provided powerful proof of principle. They would argue that with work toward the further understanding of the genes that confer resistance to HIV and how best to engineer inhibited immune systems, much safer and more accessible treatments might, if not achievable in the immediate future, come to fruition.

A New History of Expectations 

There, then, are the tale-architects of sophistication in the raw clinical efficacy of “synergy” among genetics, immunology, and the contemporary miracle of stem cell therapy. That is the story itself: what medical science once thought impossible will now be continually redone, expanding the frontiers so that paths can be paved toward innovations like 

Gene-targeting techniques resulting in the introduction of the CCR5 mutation; 

Immune-based therapies target the virus reservoirs. 

Scalable treatments eliminating ART throughout a patient’s life. 

So patients tell the world that a cure is no longer an abstract dream that appears omnipresent in the realm of science. 

A Message of Hope to Millions 

Had interesting implications far beyond a mere medical achievement. For the millions with HIV, it means hope that maybe one day such a future will come. For them, it indicates progress and promise that a total cure from the virus may become possible one day. 

Science continues to march forward, and every breakthrough brings humanity closer to an HIV-free state in the future.