Does HIV finally have a cure?
This could be a groundbreaking moment in the history of the medical world. Recently, a patient from the United Kingdom was ‘freed’ of HIV as it becomes "undetectable" in his body following stem cell treatment – this is the second case of this nature reported by the doctors.
The London patient has been in remission from the disease for 18 months now and is no longer consuming any HIV drugs. HIV was no longer diagnosed in the patient's body; neither were any symptoms detected after the transplant.
The researchers still believe that it’s too early to claim that the patient has been completely "cured" of HIV. Experts also talked about the approach stating that this might not be a suitable treatment for all patients afflicted with HIV but with further research can become a substantial cure one day.
About the Patient
The male patient was a resident of London, whose name hasn’t been revealed. He was diagnosed with AIDS in 2003 and advanced stage of Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2012.
He was receiving chemotherapy for treating the Hodgkin's cancer and, in addition, he also got stem cells implantation from a donor, that is thought to have resulted in leading the HIV and cancer to go into remission.
Researchers from Imperial College London, University College London, Oxford and Cambridge Universities were all actively involved in his case.
This is definitely not an anomaly.
The London patient is the second medical case, in which a patient has been treated with this approach, and the outcomes have ended up in his remission from HIV.
Timothy Brown: First Patient to ‘Beat’ from HIV/ AIDs
Ten years ago, a Berlin patient in underwent a bone-marrow transplant who ended up developing natural immunity to the life-threatening virus and became the first patient to get cured off HIV.
Timothy Ray Brown, the first person to get "cured" of HIV/Aids, underwent two transplants and total body irradiation (radiation therapy) for leukemia – which was much more aggressive treatment plan, compared to this case.
Lead Study Author & Professor of UCL, Ravindra Gupta, talked about the case, saying that "by achieving remission in a second patient using a similar approach, we have shown that the Berlin patient was not an anomaly and that it really was the treatment approaches that eliminated HIV in these two people."
Brown told the Associated Press talking about the treatment which saved him and the UK Patient that "it's been very useful for science and for giving hope to HIV-positive people, to people living with HIV".
Does it bring Hope for an effective cure?
This opens the door for researchers to experiment with more self-rejuvenating and stem-cell treatments, that can potentially help in curing conditions which were believed to be incurable.
The findings are definitely exciting, but they do not offer a new treatment for millions of HIV patients around the world.
The goal of aggressive therapy was primarily to treat cancer in the patient's body, not his HIV.
The current HIV therapies used are really effective, that allows patients with the virus to lead long and healthy lives. But what makes this case substantial is that it can help experts consider and look at new ways for tackling HIV and achieving a cure.
Gaining an understanding of how the body’s immune cells can naturally resist and attack infection offer hope of turning this into a cure, but there is still a long way to go.
Prof Eduardo Olavarria, from Imperial College London, was also involved in the research, who said that the successful outcome of stem cell transplantation in the UK patient has now offered a hope that new strategies can be developed for tackling the virus.
But he further added that "The treatment is not appropriate as a standard HIV treatment because of the toxicity of chemotherapy, which in this case was required to treat the lymphoma."
Current HIV Treatments
Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) Drugs
HIV was and still is considered an incurable condition. The only treatment option available for the management of HIV/ AIDS is considered antiretroviral drugs, which are effective in allowing the patients to lead a decent life with regular ART. Different classes of these drugs are prescribed to patients depending on their HIV life-cycle stages.
After the treatment, the UK patient was recommended not to take any antiretroviral therapy as HIV was undetectable in his reports.
How did the stem cell transplant help in making UK patient resistant to HIV?
CCR5 is amongst the most commonly used drugs by HIV-1 patients – the HIV virus strain which dominates around the world – allowing the virus to enter the cells.
But there is a very small percentage of people who are HIV resistant and have two mutated copies of a CCR5 receptor. This prevents the virus from penetrating the cells in the body that it normally attacks/infects.
The London patient underwent stem celltransplant from a donor who had this specific genetic mutation, that helped him become resistant to the HIV virus as well.
However, there is a chance that a reservoir of cells carrying HIV virus is still present in his body, which can remain in the resting state, for a few years.
The UK researchers said it might be possible that gene therapy can be used for targeting the CCR5 receptor in patients with HIV, but it is still an assumption which requires a lot of research.
Why finding a cure for HIV is a long way down the road?
Evolution of Treatment & life with HIV: Bone marrow treats (?), & 'frees’ man of HIV (ART) drugs
Research Professor Graham Cooke of National Institute for Health Research from Imperial College London, also said the outcomes achieved from this case were definitely "encouraging". Further adding, "If we can understand better why the procedure works in some patients and not others, we will be closer to our ultimate goal of curing HIV. "At the moment the procedure still carries too much risk to be used in patients who are otherwise well."
Case’s Potentially Significance
Honorary consultant physician & infectious disease reader, Dr Andrew Freedman, at Cardiff University, talked about it saying it was very "interesting and potentially significant report".
But he thinks that an extensive follow-up would be required for ensuring that the virus does not re-emerge at any other stage or after a few years. "While this type of treatment is clearly not practical to treat the millions of people around the world living with HIV, reports such as these may help in the ultimate development of a cure for HIV."
He believes that the focus should be placed on diagnosing HIV promptly and providing patients with a lifelong cART (combination antiretroviral therapy).
This can prevent even the slight chance of the virus being transmitted to other people and give patients with HIV an average normal life expectancy.
Verdict
Researches on HIV/ AIDS have been going on for decades in almost every leading medical healthcare center around the world since it was first detected. Top medical professionals in India have collaborated with the leading medical universities to carry out researches to find a cure for the condition and put an end to its terror. With this noteworthy research, experts are likely to be more experimental in their labs and hopefully find an HIV/ AIDS cure soon.
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