Man Remainsโข HIV-Free Years After Stem Cell Transplant, Offering New Insights into Potential Cure
Berlin, Germany – A 60-year-old man is still free of HIV years after undergoing a stem cell transplant for acute myeloid leukemia, a case offering renewedโฃ hope for โa functional cureโ for the virus. The remarkable outcomeโค suggests the donor’s immune system actively eliminatedโ residual HIV โคfrom the patient’s body, even though the donor was not a perfect match for the CCR5-ฮ32 genetic mutation known to confer HIV resistance.
The CCR5 gene provides instructions for making a protein that acts โขas a major dockingโ point for HIV on immune cells. The CCR5-ฮ32 mutation, when present on both chromosomes (homozygous), prevents the formation โof these receptors, โขeffectively blocking viralโฃ entry. While the “Berlin โpatient” achieved a well-documented cure following โa transplant from a homozygous donor,finding such a match is rare.
In this recent case, no suitable homozygous donor was available, and the patient received a transplant from a heterozygous donor – meaning they carried one copy of the CCR5-ฮ32 mutation. While heterozygosity onlyโข slows viral progression, the patient has remained HIV-free for years following the transplant.
Initially, theโ patientโ had lived for โฃfive โขyears without antiretroviral therapy after discovering his HIV infection in 2009, but his condition later deteriorated. The stem cell transplant, a risky procedure typically reserved for cases where conventional cancer treatments fail, was undertaken as a treatment for his leukemia.
Researchers believe the donor’s immune systemโข playedโฃ a crucial โrole in eradicating the virus. Preliminary findings indicate the patient’s natural killer cells now exhibit โa โขunique profile.This โฃcase strengthens the potential for specially โคadapted immunotherapies and stem cell gene therapy โto offer a cureโข for many living with HIV.
The findings were recently published in Nature (Gaebler, C. et al., Nature, 10.1038/s41586-025-09893-0, 2025).