An American man living in Germany who had both AIDS and leukemia appears to have been cured of the HIV virus after undergoing a stem cell transplant three years ago to treat the leukemia.
The 40-year-old Berlin resident is now free of any leukemia or AIDS symptoms, but doctors say that the approach used in this case is not widely applicable, according to AP.
The man was cured because the stem cell donor carried a very rare gene mutation that increases resistance to HIV and has the ability to fight the most common form of the virus.
"It's an interesting proof-of-concept that with pretty extraordinary measures a patient could be cured of HIV," said Dr. Michael Saag of the University of Alabama, according to AP.
Saag, who is the former chairman of the HIV Medicine Association, added that even if matched donors are available, the approach is too high risk to be a standardized therapy.
Even though the cure is too risky and pricey to be used in practice, it can provide clues for gene therapy or other treatments to destroy the AIDS virus.
Bone marrow or stem cell transplants rebuild a patient’s immune system after it has been destroyed by intense radiation and chemotherapy.
