The future of HIV treatment looks as hopeful as can be: this year, a second patient has been confirmed to be cured of the disease.
The first case was reported back in 2011 in a German scientific journal. Timothy Ray Brown, who became known as the ”Berlin patient”, was reportedly cured of HIV infection thanks to a bone marrow transplant from an HIV-immune person.
This HIV cure is based on the principle that the virus needs a certain type of receptors (CCR5 or CXCR4, if you’re curious) to enter the immune CD4+ cells. Less than 1% of people have a mutation in these receptors, so the HIV can’t enter their immune cells. The idea was to take part of the bone marrow of these lucky people and transplant it to patients with HIV, allowing the latter to restore their immunity.
However, that’s easier said than done.
Doctors and scientists have been trying to replicate this huge victory for almost a decade, but to no avail. The whole process is dangerous and exhausting for the patient, since his or her native bone marrow has to be first wiped out using highly toxic medications. Since HIV positive patients already have a compromised immune system, eliminating their bone marrow basically means driving them as close to AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) as possible.
Finally, after years of struggle, this HIV cure news is roaming all around the world again: a patient from London seems to be free of the infection for 18 months already.
Will this approach to HIV treatment become universal now? Not in the following years, that’s for sure. There are still many questions to be answered, but hopefully we will hear of another successfully cured HIV patient sooner than in 10 years.
While we wait for the next HIV cure news, it’s important to remember that modern HIV treatment with antiretroviral drugs is still a highly effective approach to managing the condition to avoid its progression to AIDS.
Read More:
https://infectionsmanaged.org/what-is-hiv/
https://infectionsmanaged.org/hiv-treatment-numbers-that-make-you-think/
https://infectionsmanaged.org/hiv-positive-what-does-this-mean-and-what-can-be-done/
https://infectionsmanaged.org/hiv-treatment-what-you-need-to-know-about-antiretroviral-therapy/