{"id":45967,"date":"2023-08-01T07:40:12","date_gmt":"2023-08-01T07:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/?p=45967"},"modified":"2023-08-11T15:01:42","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T15:01:42","slug":"early-hiv-cure-research-news-at-ias-2023-press-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/45967","title":{"rendered":"Geneva patient and other HIV cure research at IAS 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Richard Jefferys, TAG<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The first\u00a0press conference\u00a0of IAS 2023 meeting was held three days beforehand and featured several cure-related presentations. [1]<\/b><\/p>\n

Most notably, Asier S\u00e1ez-Ciri\u00f3n and Alexandra Calmy described a possible case of an HIV cure (or at least extended remission) in an individual in Geneva who received a stem cell transplant to treat cancer. There are\u00a0previously reported cases of HIV cures (or likely cures) in people who received stem cell transplants for cancer diagnoses, but all have involved stem cell donors homozygous for the CCR5\u039432 mutation, which makes immune cells resistant to infection by most HIV strains. [2]<\/p>\n

In this new case report, the donated stem cells were \u201cwild type,\u201d meaning they lacked this mutation.<\/p>\n

A full description of the case won\u2019t occur until the conference\u00a0track A late breaker session\u00a0on Monday 24 July. [3]<\/p>\n

The study abstract has been shared with journalists and is no longer under embargo, but it\u2019s still unavailable and listed as embargoed for the public\u00a0on the IAS 2023 website. [4]<\/p>\n

The individual is in his early 50s and received the stem cell transplant to treat a biphenotypic sarcoma. Afterward, HIV became undetectable by multiple tests and antiretroviral therapy (ART) was stopped in 2021. After 20 months of subsequent follow up, no viral load rebound has occurred, no HIV-specific T cell responses can be detected, and antibodies against HIV are waning. S\u00e1ez-Ciri\u00f3n noted that traces of HIV DNA have been detected at some timepoints, but it didn\u2019t appear to comprise intact, replication-competent virus.<\/p>\n

There are similarities to two people with HIV known as the Boston patients who also received wild type stem cell transplants to treat cancers and subsequently stopped ART without a viral load rebound. But in those prior cases,\u00a0HIV viral load did return\u00a0after three months and eight months, respectively. [5]<\/p>\n

The reasons for the far more extended absence of HIV viral load rebound in the Geneva case are uncertain at this juncture. Speculative possibilities include:<\/p>\n

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