A unique HIV cure case is among the scientific highlights of AIDS 2024, the 25th International AIDS Conference, taking place in Munich, Germany and virtually from 22 to 26 July.
Scientists shared information about the “next Berlin Patient,” who appears to be the world’s seventh person cured of HIV following a stem cell transplant. This is the first HIV cure case in which the donor has a single, rather than double, CCR5-delta32 mutation, which could have promising implications for future research.
AIDS 2024 also includes a presentation with late-breaking full results from the PURPOSE 1 trial of long-acting injectable lenacapavir for HIV prevention. Last month, topline results from an interim analysis of the trial indicate that injectable lenacapavir demonstrates 100% efficacy for HIV prevention in cisgender women.
“We’re seeing impressive innovation across the entire spectrum of HIV research,” Sharon Lewin, President of IAS – the International AIDS Society, AIDS 2024 International Co-Chair, and Director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of Melbourne in Australia, says. “For these advances to have a real-world impact, we must put people first and keep delivery and access concerns front and centre.”
Hosted by the IAS, AIDS 2024 brings together thousands of scientists, policymakers, and advocates to examine the latest advances in HIV research and forge a more equitable and innovative HIV response. This year’s conference calls on the global HIV community to unite behind a simple principle: Put people first!
“In every aspect of the HIV response, people living with and affected by HIV must be not just beneficiaries, but the actors driving our efforts,” Lewin says.
Today’s scientific highlights press conference features six studies selected from the thousands of abstracts that will be presented next week.
The “next Berlin Patient” appears cured of HIV following stem cell transplant; case is first of its kind
Christian Gaebler of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin presents a study on the “next Berlin Patient,” an adult male who appears to be the world’s seventh person cured of HIV following a stem cell transplant. Importantly, this appears to be the first HIV cure case in which the stem cell donor has a single, rather than double, CCR5-delta32 mutation – a fact that could have promising implications for future, more scalable HIV cure strategies.
The “next Berlin Patient” has both leukemia and HIV. He receives a stem cell transplant for leukemia in late 2015; then, in late 2018, he stops taking antiretroviral treatment for HIV. About five-and-a-half years later, he remains in HIV remission.
“A healthy person has many wishes, a sick person only one,” says the next Berlin Patient, who chooses to remain anonymous.
Any case of sustained HIV remission without antiretroviral treatment is noteworthy. But in most HIV cure cases following stem cell transplants, the donors have naturally inherited two copies of the CCR5-delta32 mutation – one from each parent. Also known as homozygous, these individuals are essentially immune to HIV.
This is the first HIV cure case in which the donor has inherited just one copy of the CCR5-delta32 mutation – known as heterozygous. These individuals can acquire HIV, but the virus generally progresses slowly if they do not receive antiretroviral treatment. Significantly more people have the heterozygous mutation than the homozygous mutation.
The study concludes that “effective reservoir reductions, durable HIV remission, and potential cure can be achieved with functional viral co-receptors, suggesting that allogeneic immunity fundamentally contributes to HIV eradication.”
“The next Berlin Patient’s experience suggests that we can broaden the donor pool for these kinds of cases, although stem cell transplantation is only used in people who have another illness, such as leukemia. This is also promising for future HIV cure strategies based on gene therapy, because it suggests that we don’t have to eliminate every single piece of CCR5 to achieve remission,” Lewin says.