WEDNESDAY Feb. 11, 2009 (Health.com) — A 42-year-old HIV patient with leukemia appears to have no detectable HIV in his blood and no symptoms after a stem cell transplant from a donor carrying a gene mutation that confers natural resistance to the virus that causes AIDS, according to a report published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“The patient is fine,” says Gero Hutter, MD, of Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin in Germany. “Today, two years after his transplantation, he is still without any signs of HIV disease and without antiretroviral medication.”
The case was first reported in November, and the new report is the first official publication of the case in a medical journal. Dr. Hutter and a team of medical professionals performed the stem cell transplant on the patient, an American living in Germany, to treat the man’s leukemia, not the HIV itself.
However, the team deliberately chose a compatible donor who has a naturally occurring gene mutation that confers resistance to HIV. The mutation cripples a receptor known as CCR5, which is normally found on the surface of T cells, the type of immune system cells attacked by HIV.
The mutation is known as CCR5 delta32 and is found in 1% to 3% of white populations of European descent.
HIV uses the CCR5 as a co-receptor (in addition to CD4 receptors) to latch on to and ultimately destroy immune system cells. Since the virus can’t gain a foothold on cells that lack CCR5, people who have the mutation have natural protection. (There are other, less common HIV strains that use different co-receptors.)
People who inherit one copy of CCR5 delta32 take longer to get sick or develop AIDS if infected with HIV; people with two copies (one from each parent) may not become infected at all. The stem cell donor had two copies.
Next: Why the treatment isn’t an option for most people with HIV
Comments (3)
I am a 22 yr old male was tested positive in October of 2008 and have not been on any medications. It took 6 tests to get a positive they were coming up all inconclusive. The sixth test came back positive and soon after that test I went and got my blood counts. I was told that a viral load of in the milions was to be expected. My tests came back and my viral load was 3400 and my cd4 was 750. The doctors were surprised and very happy. While I was there getting those results I got blood taken for those tests. I went in and got the answers which are my latest and my viral load had dropped to 2700 and my cd4 were 650. Having those results have made me very happy, and wonder what is it about me that it is like this. I asked about being tested for the delta32 gene but they said they are very expensive and most insurances including mine would not cover it.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or anything.
Jostine@syr.edu
-john s
I really need help. I hope u could get in contact with me. Please.
this is huge. i am not surprised that the us media has pushed this amazing break threw under the rug. All the United States news, and media covering this story has simply declared this (break threw) as simply “something to look at.” The united States is a ‘company’ only interested in making a profit from cancer aids and other diseases. Thats why we still have the worse health care. I hope that Germany and other countries continue to take the lead in the field of medicine, not putting financial gain ahead lives. I also hope that we as civilians will come together and speak up and applaud all progress in medicine. When will America put aside the “hypocritical christian costume and fully legalize stem cell research!