MSGID: 1:317/3 63f98ee6   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Successful cure of HIV infection after stem cell transplantation, study   
   suggests    
      
     Date:   
         February 24, 2023   
     Source:   
         German Center for Infection Research   
     Summary:   
         Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for the treatment of   
         severe blood cancers is the only medical intervention that has   
         cured two people living with HIV in the past. An international   
         group of physicians and researchers has now identified another   
         case in which HIV infection has been shown to be cured in the same   
         way. The successful healing process of this third patient was for   
         the first time characterized in great detail virologically and   
         immunologically over a time span of ten years.   
      
      
         Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIN Email   
   FULL STORY   
   ==========================================================================   
   Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for the treatment of severe blood   
   cancers is the only medical intervention that has cured two people living   
   with HIV in the past. An international group of physicians and researchers   
   from Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, and the United States has   
   now identified another case in which HIV infection has been shown to be   
   cured in the same way. In a study published this week in Nature Medicine,   
   in which DZIF scientists from Hamburg and Cologne played a leading role,   
   the successful healing process of this third patient was for the first   
   time characterised in great detail virologically and immunologically   
   over a time span of ten years.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   An infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was previously   
   considered incurable. The reason for this is that the virus "sleeps" in   
   the genome of infected cells for long periods of time, making it invisible   
   and inaccessible to both the immune system and antiviral drugs. The   
   "Du"sseldorf patient," a 53-year-old man, is now the third person in the   
   world to be completely cured of the HI virus by a stem cell transplant.   
      
   The patient, treated at the University Hospital Du"sseldorf for his HIV   
   infection, had received a stem cell transplant due to a blood cancer. As   
   in the cases of the first two patients named "Berlin" and "London," the   
   Du"sseldorf patient received stem cells from a healthy donor whose genome   
   contains a mutation in the gene for the HIV-1 co-receptor CCR5. This   
   mutation makes it impossible for most HI viruses to enter human CD4+   
   T-lymphocytes, their major target cells.   
      
   Following transplantation, the patient was carefully monitored   
   virologically and immunologically for almost ten years. Using a variety   
   of sensitive techniques, the researchers analysed the patient's blood   
   and tissue samples to closely monitor immune responses to HIV and the   
   continued presence or even replication of the virus. Already shortly after   
   transplantation and over the entire course of the study years, neither   
   replicating virus nor antibodies or reactive immune cells against HIV   
   were detected. More than four years ago, the antiviral therapy against   
   HIV was discontinued. Ten years after transplantation and four years   
   after the end of anti-HIV therapy, the Du"sseldorf patient could be   
   declared cured by the international research consortium.   
      
   "This case of curing a chronic HIV infection by stem cell transplantation   
   shows that HIV can in principle be cured," says Prof. Julian Schulze zur   
   Wiesch, DZIF scientist at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf   
   and one of the study leads. "In particular, the results of this study   
   are also enormously important for further research into a cure for   
   HIV for the vast majority of people living with HIV for whom stem cell   
   transplantation is not an option."   
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Health_&_Medicine   
                   # HIV_and_AIDS # Infectious_Diseases # Stem_Cells # STD   
             o Plants_&_Animals   
                   # Virology # Mice # Biotechnology # Genetics   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Bone_marrow_transplant o HIV_test o Stem_cell o   
             Stem_cell_treatments o Antiretroviral_drug o AIDS o   
             Adult_stem_cell o Salmonella_infection   
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Story Source: Materials provided by   
   German_Center_for_Infection_Research. Note: Content may be edited for   
   style and length.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Journal Reference:   
      1. Bjo"rn-Erik Ole Jensen, Elena Knops, Leon Cords, Nadine Lu"bke,   
      Maria   
         Salgado, Kathleen Busman-Sahay, Jacob D. Estes, Laura   
         E. P. Huyveneers, Federico Perdomo-Celis, Melanie Wittner,   
         Cristina Ga'lvez, Christiane Mummert, Caroline Passaes, Johanna   
         M. Eberhard, Carsten Mu"nk, Ilona Hauber, Joachim Hauber, Eva Heger,   
         Jozefien De Clercq, Linos Vandekerckhove, Silke Bergmann, Ga'bor   
         A. Dunay, Florian Klein, Dieter Ha"ussinger, Johannes C. Fischer,   
         Kathrin Nachtkamp, Joerg Timm, Rolf Kaiser, Thomas Harrer, Tom   
         Luedde, Monique Nijhuis, Asier Sa'ez-Cirio'n, Julian Schulze zur   
         Wiesch, Annemarie M. J. Wensing, Javier Martinez- Picado, Guido   
         Kobbe. In-depth virological and immunological characterization   
         of HIV-1 cure after CCR5D32/D32 allogeneic hematopoietic stem   
         cell transplantation. Nature Medicine, 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41591-   
         023-02213-x   
   ==========================================================================   
      
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/02/230224165409.htm   
      
   --- up 51 weeks, 4 days, 10 hours, 50 minutes   
    * Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)   
   SEEN-BY: 15/0 106/201 114/705 123/120 153/7715 226/30 227/114 229/111   
   SEEN-BY: 229/112 113 307 317 400 426 428 470 664 700 292/854 298/25   
   SEEN-BY: 305/3 317/3 320/219 396/45   
   PATH: 317/3 229/426