Something I did not pick up on from the summary is that the stem cell donor has some natural HIV resistance, which seems like a critical element of this.

A stem cell transplant has cured a man of HIV, researchers have announced.

The Dusseldorf Patient, 53, is only the third person to be cured of the condition using the treatment.

He appears to be the fifth person in total to be cured overall.

He had not taken anti-retroviral medicine, or suppressants, for four years and has not relapsed.

Similar to the other two patients - one in Berlin and another in London), the man, in Dusseldorf, had the transplant to treat a blood disorder, which in his case was leukaemia, that had developed alongside the HIV infection.

More than 10 years after the transplant and four years after ending his HIV therapy, he is in good health.

"I still remember very well the sentence of my family doctor: 'Don't take it so hard. We will experience together that HIV can be cured'," he said.

"At the time, I dismissed the statement as an alibi. Today, I am all the more proud of my worldwide team of doctors who succeeded in curing me of HIV - and at the same time, of course, of leukaemia.

"On Valentine's Day this year, I celebrated the 10th anniversary of my bone marrow transplant in a big way. My bone marrow donor was present as a guest of honour."

Researchers say the virus not returning is the result of thorough scientific and therapeutic preparation and monitoring, adding the study is the longest and most precise diagnostic monitoring of a patient following a stem cell transplantation.

A transplant destroys any unhealthy blood cells and replaces them with healthy ones removed from blood or bone marrow, and due to their high risk, are only carried out within the framework of treating other life-threatening conditions.

The team, which is led by medics at Dusseldorf University Hospital, hope the information they have gained will help more studies into cures for HIV.

Research should now be continued, experts suggest, to help HIV patients overcome infections without the need for this kind of strenuous intervention in the future.

The Dusseldorf Patient was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), a form of life-threatening blood cancer, six months after starting his HIV therapy, and underwent the stem cell transplant in 2013.

Then, in 2018, after planning and constant monitoring by doctors, the anti-viral HIV therapy - which had ensured any residual HIV was kept under control up to that point - was ended.

On behalf of the international team, Dr Bjorn-Erik Ole Jensen said: "Following our intensive research, we can now confirm that it is fundamentally possible to prevent the replication of HIV on a sustainable basis by combining two key methods.

"On the one hand, we have the extensive depletion of the virus reservoir in long-lived immune cells, and on the other hand, the transfer of HIV resistance from the donor immune system to the recipient, ensuring that the virus has no chance to spread again.

"Further research is now needed into how this can be made possible outside the narrow set of framework conditions we have described."

The Nature Medicine journal has published the study.

In recent years, a man from California has been cured of the condition after his diagnosis in 1988, while Timothy Ray Brown, known as the Berlin Patient, was cured in 2007 - but later died from cancer.

I guess this kind of resistance of HIV is rare... Will the donor become unsafe because of bone marrow hunting of the black market? The worst may be him being locked up in some restricted living places.

Have any HIV cure been revisited to see if HIV still exists after a long period?

I've seen it reported elsewhere as the 5th person to be cured.

FTFY (Fifthed that for you)

The following submission statement was provided by /u/esprit-de-lescalier:

A stem cell transplant has cured a man of HIV, researchers have announced.

The Dusseldorf Patient, 53, is only the third person to be cured of the condition using the treatment.

He appears to be the fifth person in total to be cured overall.

He had not taken anti-retroviral medicine, or suppressants, for four years and has not relapsed.

Similar to the other two patients - one in Berlin and another in London), the man, in Dusseldorf, had the transplant to treat a blood disorder, which in his case was leukaemia, that had developed alongside the HIV infection.

More than 10 years after the transplant and four years after ending his HIV therapy, he is in good health.

"I still remember very well the sentence of my family doctor: 'Don't take it so hard. We will experience together that HIV can be cured'," he said.

"At the time, I dismissed the statement as an alibi. Today, I am all the more proud of my worldwide team of doctors who succeeded in curing me of HIV - and at the same time, of course, of leukaemia.

"On Valentine's Day this year, I celebrated the 10th anniversary of my bone marrow transplant in a big way. My bone marrow donor was present as a guest of honour."

Researchers say the virus not returning is the result of thorough scientific and therapeutic preparation and monitoring, adding the study is the longest and most precise diagnostic monitoring of a patient following a stem cell transplantation.

A transplant destroys any unhealthy blood cells and replaces them with healthy ones removed from blood or bone marrow, and due to their high risk, are only carried out within the framework of treating other life-threatening conditions.

The team, which is led by medics at Dusseldorf University Hospital, hope the information they have gained will help more studies into cures for HIV.

Research should now be continued, experts suggest, to help HIV patients overcome infections without the need for this kind of strenuous intervention in the future.

The Dusseldorf Patient was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), a form of life-threatening blood cancer, six months after starting his HIV therapy, and underwent the stem cell transplant in 2013.

Then, in 2018, after planning and constant monitoring by doctors, the anti-viral HIV therapy - which had ensured any residual HIV was kept under control up to that point - was ended.

On behalf of the international team, Dr Bjorn-Erik Ole Jensen said: "Following our intensive research, we can now confirm that it is fundamentally possible to prevent the replication of HIV on a sustainable basis by combining two key methods.

"On the one hand, we have the extensive depletion of the virus reservoir in long-lived immune cells, and on the other hand, the transfer of HIV resistance from the donor immune system to the recipient, ensuring that the virus has no chance to spread again.

"Further research is now needed into how this can be made possible outside the narrow set of framework conditions we have described."

The Nature Medicine journal has published the study.

In recent years, a man from California has been cured of the condition after his diagnosis in 1988, while Timothy Ray Brown, known as the Berlin Patient, was cured in 2007 - but later died from cancer.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/117grzl/third_person_cured_of_hiv_after_stem_cell/j9biis1/

[removed]

[deleted]

[removed]

[removed]

After living though the AIDS crisis in the 90s and how BIG of a deal it was, it's so weird to me how generally ignored it's been that it's not only no longer a death sentence but also now potentially curable. Probably because it's been a long slow road rather than one miracle cure, but still something I would have never imagined back then. Like, ya it's reported but it's not a huge world shaking headline.

Can a person “recatch” it again? Or do they develop immunity? Since almost all cases are lifestyle related, this method of “curing” it seems like only a temporary, and very painful and intrusive, solution, versus developing a vaccine against it.

this break though would have made headlines so this info is bogus