Cure for HIV?

After the Berlin patients 10yrs ago, a second patient has experienced remission from HIV-1 in London. Both of them were treated with stem cell transplants from donors who carried a CCR5-delta 32 gene mutation that made them resistant to HIV. The recently identified patient has been off HIV medications for 18months now.

Although the method administered here might not be appropriate for all patients, but this gives hope for new treatment strategies that include gene therapies for HIV. This was done by bone marrow transplantation.

It is early to say when, but this new case confirms that bone marrow transplantation from a CCR5-negative donor can eliminate residual virus and stop any traces of virus from rebounding. This also opens doors for treating other incurable viral illness, such as herpes.

Reference: London patient might be second to be cured of HIV. CNN. (Accessed 5 Mar 2019)