Second HIV-Patient Cured Through a Mutation

The HIV (yellow) is attacking the T-cells (blue) of the immune system. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS and targets T-cells which fight-off many pathogens. (Photo courtesy of: US National Institutes of Health).

By: John Dane Valdez

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a virus that targets the cells in the immune system, making it more difficult to fight-off infections and diseases. HIV can spread through certain body fluids, and can eventually lead to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). As of today, there is no definite cure for HIV but its effects can be controlled through Anti-Retroviral Therapy or ART.

The only known person to be completely cured of HIV is Timothy Ray Brown, also known as the “Berlin patient”. He was treated through a stem cell transplant that eliminated the virus. A decade later, another person dubbed as the “London patient” was cured of his HIV infection using the same method.

According to Dr. Ravindra Gupta, a virologist in the Division of Infection and Immunity at University College London, this shows that the Berlin patient was not an anomaly, and that the use of stem cell transplant eliminated HIV in both patients.

However, he also said that it is too soon to say if the London patient has been definitively cured of HIV. What they know for now is that the patient is in a long-term remission from the virus for 18 months, without needing the medication.

The London patient was diagnosed with HIV in 2003. Since then, he has been taking antiretroviral medications to manage his HIV infection. In 2012, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of blood cancer that can be treated with a bone marrow transplant.

The stem cells that came from the donor had a rare mutation in the gene that codes for the CCR5 protein. This protein is located on the surface of white blood cells and acts like a knob where the HIV holds to so that it could enter the cells. When the gene for CCR5 is mutated, the protein is not produced, preventing the HIV from entering the cells.

Gupta stressed that using stem cell transplant as the standard method of treating HIV would not work since it carries a lot of risk. Timothy Brown was diagnosed with leukemia, so both patients used the transplants to treat cancer, not HIV.

Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore, explained that the treatment of the London patient gives us an idea that HIV can be eradicated. Based on the way both patients were treated, it can be observed that eliminating the CCR5 protein effectively cures HIV infection. Thus, researchers can focus more on finding out ways to remove or halt the production of the CCR5 protein besides using stem cell transplants.

The case of the London patient is an important one, as it does not only pave the way for more scientific innovations, but also gives humanity a chance to combat this harmful virus and provide a definite cure for it in the future.

References:

Cohen, J. (2019, March 4). Has a second person with HIV been cured? Science.doi:10.1126/science.aax2247

Rettner, R. (2019, March 5). A Second Person May Be Cured of HIV. Retrieved April 1, 2019, from https://www.livescience.com/64916-second-patient-hiv-cure.html