Utilizing Cord Blood for Treatment, A Woman is Considered Cured of HIV

At today’s 2022 Annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infection (CROI), it has been reported that a woman was cured of HIV with the treatment of a haplo-cord transplant.

According to a report in the NY Times, the person is being reported as a middle aged woman of mixed race. She had leukemia and received cord blood to treat it.

The woman underwent "reduced intensity CCR5∆32/∆32 haplo-cord [stem cell transplant] SCT and achieved AML remission with a 100% CCR5∆32/∆32 CB chimerism by day 100 post-transplant and thereafter," according to the investigators. "She had early hospital discharge, no acute or chronic GVHD, and asymptomatic CMV and EBV reactivation," the investigators wrote.

Specifically, she is “ART-free HIV-1 remission for 14 months following CCR5∆32 homozygous cord blood (CB) and CD34-selected haploidentical stem cell transplant (haplo-cord SCT) for acute myeloid leukemia (AML),” the investigators wrote.

The presentation given at CROI was titled, HIV-1 Remission With CCR5∆32∆32 Haplo-Cord Transplant In a US Woman: IMPAACT P1107.

The transplant came from a partially matched donor, and the patient received blood from a family relative to offer immunity in the early stages of her post-transplant.

“This is the third known case of HIV-1 remission, the first known case in a woman of mixed race, and the first known case with haplo-cord CCR5∆32/∆32 SCT,” the investigators wrote. “Broader use of CCR5∆32/∆32 haplo-cord transplantation should be considered to achieve HIV-1 remission and cure for persons living with HIV-1 requiring SCT for other diseases.”

Previously, two other patients known as the London and the Berlin patients who were in HIV-1 remission were men.

This opens the door to both woman and people with different races to seek a novel treatment for potential “cure” or long-term HIV-1 remission.