A Man May Be Cleared of HIV for the Second Time in History. Here ’s What That Means

A man in London has become only the second person to achieve remission from HIV infection, researchers from the UK reported Tuesday. The therapy responsible has worked on only one other person who is considered to be “cured” of HIV: Timothy Ray Brown, who still does not show signs of the virus in his body after more than 10 years. Here’s what to know about the landmark case. How did it happen? In a letter published in the journal Nature, researchers led by Ravindra Gupta from the University of Cambridge London and Imperial College London and his colleagues say that they used a treatment similar to the one Brown received in 2007, but with a few changes meant to make the therapy easier and less intense for the patient. The London patient, who wishes to remain anonymous, was diagnosed with HIV in 2003 but did not begin anti-HIV drug therapy, which can keep the virus below detectable levels, until 2012. That year, he was also diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin’s lymphoma. To treat his cancer, he received chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant in 2016; the chemotherapy killed the malignant and healthy cells in his immune system and blood, while the transplant gave him a fresh start with bone marrow cells from a healthy donor, which seeded a new population of cancer-free immune and blood cells. Brown had received two similar transplants to treat his leukemia; his donors were intentionally chosen because they not only matched him, but they also harbored genet...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized HIV/AIDS Source Type: news