Has a sixth person been cured of HIV?

A European man has been in remission from an HIV infection for almost two years, leading to the possibility that he will be the sixth person cured of HIV. He received a stem cell transplant to treat blood cancer.

All six patients underwent a stem cell transplant before the surprising results. The man, dubbed “The Geneva Patient” to protect his privacy, is the first to get a transplant from a donor without a rare genetic abnormality. The gene generates resistance to HIV in human immune cells targeted by the virus.

Related:

This biohacker injected himself with an untested HIV cure at home & webcammed it all

Call it homegrown gene hacking.

The man, in his 50s, was diagnosed with HIV in 1990 and began antiretroviral treatment in 2005. He was diagnosed with rare blood cancer in 2018 and underwent radiation and chemotherapy.

Global perspectives delivered right to your inbox

Our newsletter bridges borders to bring you LGBTQ+ news from around the world.

Daily

Weekly

Good News

People with HIV who do not also have cancer are not eligible for stem cell treatment since it is potentially toxic. Doctors and scientists remain optimistic that the cases will lead to a better understanding of how to cure HIV, but also caution that it will likely take decades before such a treatment exists.

So far, three people have been cured of HIV. Two others, like the Geneva Patient, have been in remission and potentially cured. Others who have received stem cell transplants have gone up to 10 months without a viral rebound, but the Genva Patient has gone for 20 months.

Earlier this year, doctors announced there is “strong evidence” that the man known as the “Düsseldorf patient” has been cured.

The 53-year-old patient at Düsseldorf University Hospital in Germany received a bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia in 2013. The procedure replaced his bone marrow cells with those of a donor with a mutated gene for the CCR5 protein, which is found in white blood cells. HIV uses the protein to enter the cell but cannot attach to the mutated version.

In 2019, it was reported that the patient showed no signs of the virus after three months without HIV medication. According to research published in the journal Nature Medicine, the man has remained HIV-free since then.