Another HIV cure thanks to elimination of CCR5.
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Posted On: 08/07/2024 6:51:33 PM
Another HIV cure thanks to elimination of CCR5.
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https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/seventh...arsely-api
Excerpt:
An adult man dubbed “The Next Berlin Patient” has been declared the seventh person to be cured of HIV, and his case provides valuable information that could lead to a more broadly accessible approach for the 39 million people living with the virus around the globe.
The moniker is a nod to Timothy Ray Brown, the first person cured of HIV, who was anonymously known as “The Berlin Patient” before revealing his identity.
Immunologist Christian Gaebler, M.D., M.Sc., of Charité – Berlin University Medicine, will present the new case at the 25th International AIDS conference in Munich, which runs from July 22 to 26.
In a press preview on Thursday, Gaebler described how the patient was diagnosed with HIV in 2009 and then later developed acute myeloid leukemia. In 2015, the clinical team decided the patient needed a hematopoietic stem cell transplant in his bone marrow to treat his cancer. The team “began searching for donors with this rare genetic mutation known as the homozygous delta-32 CCR5 mutation, because we know that this mutation provides natural resistance to HIV,” Gaebler explained.
CCR5 is a receptor protein on white blood cells that HIV uses to infect cells; with the delta-32 mutation, the virus can’t bind to the protein and enter the cell. As a retrovirus, HIV then inserts part of its DNA into the genomes of infected cells, forming a reservoir of viral material in the body that is tough to eradicate.
The clinicians were unable to find a donor that had two copies of the protective mutation but did manage to find someone who was heterozygous, meaning they had one copy of the gene with the mutation and one copy without it. They went ahead with the transplant and found that it not only treated the patient’s cancer but also seems to have cured his HIV.
Sorry if already posted.
https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/seventh...arsely-api
Excerpt:
An adult man dubbed “The Next Berlin Patient” has been declared the seventh person to be cured of HIV, and his case provides valuable information that could lead to a more broadly accessible approach for the 39 million people living with the virus around the globe.
The moniker is a nod to Timothy Ray Brown, the first person cured of HIV, who was anonymously known as “The Berlin Patient” before revealing his identity.
Immunologist Christian Gaebler, M.D., M.Sc., of Charité – Berlin University Medicine, will present the new case at the 25th International AIDS conference in Munich, which runs from July 22 to 26.
In a press preview on Thursday, Gaebler described how the patient was diagnosed with HIV in 2009 and then later developed acute myeloid leukemia. In 2015, the clinical team decided the patient needed a hematopoietic stem cell transplant in his bone marrow to treat his cancer. The team “began searching for donors with this rare genetic mutation known as the homozygous delta-32 CCR5 mutation, because we know that this mutation provides natural resistance to HIV,” Gaebler explained.
CCR5 is a receptor protein on white blood cells that HIV uses to infect cells; with the delta-32 mutation, the virus can’t bind to the protein and enter the cell. As a retrovirus, HIV then inserts part of its DNA into the genomes of infected cells, forming a reservoir of viral material in the body that is tough to eradicate.
The clinicians were unable to find a donor that had two copies of the protective mutation but did manage to find someone who was heterozygous, meaning they had one copy of the gene with the mutation and one copy without it. They went ahead with the transplant and found that it not only treated the patient’s cancer but also seems to have cured his HIV.
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