Norwegian man cured of HIV after stem cell transplant from brother with rare genetic mutation
via Punch Nigeria2 min read
A 63-year-old Norwegian man, known as the “Oslo patient,” has been effectively cured of HIV following a stem cell transplant from his elder brother. The procedure, which took place in 2020, was initially intended to treat the patient’s myelodysplastic syndrome, a fatal blood cancer diagnosed in 2017. Doctors discovered on the day of the transplant that his brother carried a rare CCR5 genetic mutation, present in only about one percent of northern Europeans, which blocks HIV from entering the body’s cells. The patient had been living with HIV since 2006. Two years after the transplant, he stopped taking anti-retroviral drugs, and researchers found no trace of the virus in his blood, gut, and bone marrow samples. This case marks the first time a family member has been a donor in such a cure and is among approximately 10 worldwide instances of long-term HIV remission after a transplant for blood cancer. While this high-risk procedure is not a viable option for the general HIV-positive population, researchers believe studying these rare cases will provide crucial insights into HIV and aid in the search for a universal cure.
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