In 2007, the German’s name spread throughout the world. Timothy Brownknown since then as the Berlin patient, became first person cured of HIV. Remission of the disease came to him by chance when he underwent leukemia treatment from which he also suffered. The treatment was so effective that names have since been added to the list of cured patients. Of course, it is important to emphasize that in order for them to be considered cured, a sufficient amount of time must pass without traces of the viral reservoir in their body. And this is the case Paul EdmondsA 68 year old man which is about to become part of this short but hopeful list.
Edmonds’ case, as well as the rest of the patients considered recovered, is similar to Brown’s. He also suffered from leukemia and received treatment that attacked both diseases at the same time. The only difference is that in his case it did not happen by accident.
At the moment 5 years have just passed treatment. Since then, there has been no trace of the HIV virus left in his body. No leukemia. For this reason, his doctors published a letter explaining his case, detailing that although he is in apparent remission of both pathologies, some more time is still needed before the consensus is that he is considered cured of HIV. . .
AIDS is not the same as HIV
When we talk about a person cured of HIV, we mean a person who no longer has the virus in his body. In fact, Edmonds, like other patients in his situation, has long since recovered from the disease. AIDS.
AIDS refers to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome as a result of HIV infection, which HIV. Previously, discovering this virus was practically a death sentence. And the mechanism of action of HIV is destructive.
Like any other virus, unable to reproduce itself. It needs to infect a host, in this case a human, and take over the machinery its cells use to reproduce. HIV chooses CD4 lymphocytescells of the immune system, which are essential in fighting infections because they are responsible for coordinating other protective agents.
So when HIV invades these cells and uses them to reproduce, it also renders them virtually useless. This results in the patient being unable to fight off infections normally, so the simplest cold This can be very serious. This is what is known as AIDS.
Luckily they have been around for many years. antiretroviral treatment that control HIV. They do not eliminate the pathogen, so they must be taken throughout life. However, they prevent the occurrence of this dangerous immunodeficiency. In short, AIDS is no longer there, but HIV is still there.
Why is it so difficult for a person to consider himself cured of HIV?
When HIV enters immune cells, it uses its replication machinery and begins making copies of itself. In turn, most of these new viruses they keep making copies. However, some stop reproducing and remain in a state of temporary torpor.
Antiretroviral drugs work by targeting replicating viruses precisely because they inhibit their replication. The problem is that these dormant viruses, known as virus reservoir, they don’t do anything with them. Therefore, if treatment were stopped, the viral reservoir would reactivate, it would begin to divide, and AIDS symptoms could return.
Patients treated for the disease sometimes stopped taking antiretroviral drugs, believing they were cured, but over time they got sick again. Therefore, a reasonable amount of time must pass before a person can be considered cured of HIV.
There is no exact formula determining how long this time should last, so it is determined by consensus of the scientific community. In Edmonds’ case, doctors decided to wait another two years before he received the desired rank. But the truth is that today, five years after his treatment, and no longer taking antiretroviral drugs, there are no traces of HIV in his blood. It is very rare for any virus to remain dormant between its cells. But, just in case, it’s better to wait a little longer.
What is the treatment?
The treatment that Edmonds, Brown and the rest of the leukemia patients received is a typical bone marrow transplant, but with a few twists.
In Brown’s case, they simply looked for a compatible donor, as is customary. What they didn’t know was that the donor in question had CCR5 mutation. We usually associate the word mutation with something bad, but this is not always the case. An error in the expected DNA sequence can result in something bad, neutral, or good, and in this case, very good. It is estimated that approximately 1% to 2% of the population has the CCR5 mutation, which confers resistance to HIV.
Before a bone marrow transplant is performed, the patient’s bone marrow cells are destroyed to replace them with cells from the donor. So, without realizing it, they gave Brown the opportunity block the entry of HIV. If the viral reservoir was reactivated, it could no longer infect cells.
Sorry, Timothy Brown died in 2020, due to a relapse of his leukemia. However, HIV never returned, and it is not expected to do so in the case of Edmonds and several other patients in his situation.
Does this mean we are at risk of a cure for HIV? It’s too early to say anything like that. At the moment, this treatment is only given to patients who also have leukemia, as it is believed that benefit/risk balance Treatment in which bone marrow cells must be destroyed is questionable for those who do not require this intervention for secondary disease. Despite this, the disease has become much better understood thanks to these drugs, so it would not be strange if an alternative treatment were to become available in the future. Great progress has been made in this area of medicine. All this should be taken into account by those who say that there is no cure for HIV because it is inconvenient for the pharmaceutical companies.
Source: Hiper Textual
