An American patient with leukemia has become the first woman and the third person to date to be cured of HIV.
- The potential of stem cell transplants was demonstrated in 2007 when Timothy Ray Brown was the first person to be “cured” of HIV.
More facts
- The woman received a stem cell transplant from a donor who was naturally resistant to the virus that causes AIDS.
- She has now been free of the virus for 14 months. The case of the woman was presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Denver.
- She is also the first involving umbilical cord blood and has since not needed to take the antiretroviral therapy required to treat HIV.
- However, experts have warned the transplant method used, involving umbilical cord blood, is too risky to be suitable for most people with HIV.
Umbilical cord blood
- Umbilical cord blood is more widely available than the adult stem cells previously used and it does not require as close a match between donor and recipient.
- The procedure used to treat the New York patient, known as a haplo-cord transplant, was developed by the Weill Cornell team to expand cancer treatment options for people with blood malignancies who lack HLA (human leukocyte antigen)-identical donors.
- Compared with adult stem cells, cord blood is more adaptable, generally requires less of a close HLA match to succeed in treating cancer and causes fewer complications.
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