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A team of scientists from New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City may have possibly cured HIV in a female patient for the first time. Researchers used “a cutting-edge stem cell transplant method” that could very well be used to help treat future HIV patients, NBC News reported.
The woman, who has been identified as the “New York Patient,” was diagnosed with HIV in 2013 and fell ill with leukemia in 2017. According to the outlet, the woman received a complex procedure called the “haplo-cord transplant”, an alternative cancer treatment method that is used for individuals who lack a human leukocyte antigen (HLA) donor. The HLA system is a complex mix of genes and chromosomes that are responsible for regulating the immune system.
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First, the patient received a transplant of umbilical cord blood from an infant donor that contained enough of the stem cells used to promote a healthy immune system. The cord also contained an HIV-resistant genetic abnormality that has been found in previous cases to block the virus from multiplying in blood cells. Then, the woman received a larger dose or “graft” of adult stem cells from another donor. Upon successfully grafting, the adult stem cells flourish and entirely replace the cord blood cells, in this case, creating a thriving immune system.
“The role of the adult donor cells is to hasten the early engraftment process and render the transplant easier and safer,” Dr. Koen van Besien explained, who was one of the doctors involved in the cutting-edge study. According to NBC News, “Both donors were only a partial HLA match to the woman, but the combination of the two transplants” is what propelled the success of the treatment.
van Besien said that the haplo-cord transplant could provide hope for future patients.
“We estimate that there are approximately 50 patients per year in the U.S. who could benefit from this procedure,” he added. “The ability to use partially matched umbilical cord blood grafts greatly increases the likelihood of finding suitable donors for such patients.”
As for the New York patient, her transplant engrafted phenomenally well. She has reportedly been in remission from her leukemia for more than four years. Her doctors discontinued her HIV treatment nearly three years after receiving the life-changing transplant. Today, she still shows no signs of the virus in her body. Doctors consider the woman’s HIV to be in remission, but there is still a long road ahead in terms of finding a “feasible strategy for all” people living with the virus, Dr. Deborah Persaud, one of the chairs behind the NIH funded case study, emphasized.
The New York Patient joins the success stories of five other individuals who have reportedly been cured of HIV. Most famously, American Timothy Ray Brown received a similar transplant that helped rid him of the virus in 2008. Similarly, Brown received a transplant from a donor containing the rare HIV-resistant genetic abnormality that allows for immune cells to block HIV from entering other healthy cells. The strategy has been used to treat two other patients, but many cases have failed in the past.
This genetic abnormality has largely been seen in people with European ancestry.
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