- A 60-year-old German man has likely been ‘cured’ of HIV after a stem cell transplant for his acute myeloid leukemia, becoming only the seventh person to achieve this milestone.
- The man, dubbed the ‘next Berlin patient’, stopped taking anti-retroviral drugs in late 2018 and now appears to be both cancer and HIV free.
- The original Berlin patient, Timothy Ray Brown, was the first person cured of HIV in 2008 by receiving a stem cell transplant from a donor with natural resistance to the virus.
- Researchers are cautious about using the term ‘cure’ but acknowledge the man’s case as ‘highly suggestive of an HIV cure’ after more than five years in remission.
- The success with the new Berlin patient and the London patient, as well as other cases around the world, provide hope for a potential cure for HIV that could work for all patients in the future.
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Infectious Diseases, HIV/AIDS, Transplantation