The oldest patient to date has been cured of HIV after a stem cell transplant for leukemia, researchers said Wednesday.
Although the transplant was planned to treat the now 66-year-old’s leukemia, doctors also sought a donor who was naturally resistant to the virus that causes AIDS, a mechanism that first worked to cure the “Berlin Patient,” Timothy Ray Brown, in 2007
The latest patient, the fourth to be cured in this way, is known as the “City of Hope” patient after the US facility in Duarte, California, where he was treated because he did not want to be identified.
As well as being the oldest, the patient had had HIV the longest after being diagnosed in 1988 with what he described as a “death sentence” that killed many of his friends.
He has been on antiretroviral therapy (ART) to control his condition for more than 30 years.
Doctors, who presented the data ahead of the International AIDS Society (IAS) 2022 meeting, said the case opens up the potential for older patients with HIV and blood cancers to access the treatment, particularly as the donor is not a member of the family.
Describing the drug as the “holy grail”, Sharon Lewin, president-elect of the IAS, said the case provided “continued hope … and inspiration” for people with HIV and the wider scientific community, although it was unlikely to be an option for most people with HIV because of the risks of the procedure.
Scientists believe the process works because the donor’s stem cells have a specific, rare genetic mutation that means they lack the receptors used by HIV to infect cells.
After the transplant three and a half years ago, which followed chemotherapy, the City of Hope patient stopped taking ART in March 2021. He has now been in remission from both HIV and leukemia for more than a year, the team said.
On Wednesday, researchers in Spain also released details of a 59-year-old woman who is one of a rare group of what are known as “post-treatment controllers.” They can maintain undetectable viral loads after stopping ART and also provide clues to a potential cure, Lewin said.
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