For the second Time in the world to patients in a HIV after a stem cell transplant months later, no more viruses detected. About the researchers report in the journal Nature, and warn against exaggerated expectations of this therapy.
The man from the UK was also ill with cancer of the lymph nodes, the so-called Hodgkin’s lymphoma. To treat this disease, transplant a team of Doctors consulted with Professor Dr. Ravindra Gupta from the University College London the patient’s stem cells. These were genetically modified so that they made the wearer resistant to an infection with the HI Virus. Subsequently, the Patient received almost one and a half years of antiretroviral therapy. Then the Doctors stopped the treatment to see if the HI-virus returned. And indeed, The Patient remained in the following 18 months virus-free. As a standard therapy in HIV infection, the scientists conclude the process, however, because of the strong side effects. After the transplant, a donor-versus-recipient reaction occurred in the treated man from the UK, the so-called Graft-versus-Host disease. This power, first by a redness of the skin noticeable and can skin in the further course of the damage to the intestinal mucosa and the liver. In rare cases, the disease can be, in spite of the treatment of life-threatening. The Patient is Gupta and colleagues, the second man in the world, led to a stem cell transplant to a permanent HIV Remission. In 2007, an American had received in Berlin a similar treatment. He was ill in addition to its infection, to acute myelotischer leukemia. Also, he has no HI-virus were after the completion of treatment undetectable. He was as the Berlin Patient known.
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