Examining the Future of HIV Treatment | by Hazel Kimani

A woman known as the 'New York Patient' is the first female, and third person to date, that has been cured of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

Diagnosed with HIV in 2013, and acute myeloid leukemia in 2017, she required a stem cell transplant to treat the cancer. As a participant of the observational study called IMPACT P1107, she received umbilical cord blood with the double CCR5-delta-32 mutation, which is resistant to HIV.

It was reported in February 2022 that the New York Patient has been in remission, and free from HIV for 14 months, without antiretroviral therapy.

Timothy Ray Brown, formerly known as the 'Berlin Patient', was the first man to be cured from the virus. In 2006, Brown received two stem cell transplants with the same gene mutation that is resistant to HIV. His death in September 2020 was due to the recurrence of leukemia, but Brown was free from the HIV virus for 13 years.

The 'London Patient' is the second person who was cured of HIV through the exact same procedure. It was reported in 2019 that he has been free from the virus since.

The technique used on these three patients harnesses the regenerative capacity of stem cells to generate an immune response to the virus, which is promising for the 38 million people living with HIV worldwide.

President Elect of the International Aids Society, Sharon Lewin, said: “We haven’t cured HIV, but [this] gives us hope that it’s going to be feasible one day to eliminate the virus."

This procedure has only been feasible for these three people because they were leukemia patients. Otherwise, a stem cell transplant is a high risk procedure, especially for people living with HIV.

“A bone marrow transplant is not a viable large-scale strategy for curing HIV, but it does present a proof of concept that HIV can be cured”, said Lewin.

A woman known as the 'New York Patient' is the first female, and third person to date, that has been cured of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

It was reported in February 2022 that the New York Patient has been in remission, and free from HIV for 14 months, without antiretroviral therapy.

The 'London Patient' is the second person who was cured of HIV through the exact same procedure. It was reported in 2019 that he has been free from the virus since.

President Elect of the International Aids Society, Sharon Lewin, said: “We haven’t cured HIV, but [this] gives us hope that it’s going to be feasible one day to eliminate the virus."

This procedure has only been feasible for these three people because they were leukemia patients. Otherwise, a stem cell transplant is a high risk procedure, especially for people living with HIV.

“A bone marrow transplant is not a viable large-scale strategy for curing HIV, but it does present a proof of concept that HIV can be cured”, said Lewin.