Woman treated with umbilical cord stem cells from HIV

The story of a woman who became known worldwide as the “New York patient” after she became possibly the first person to recover from HIV with stem cells from the umbilical cord, was told in a study published in the magazine last week. Cell. According to researchers, The patient is virus-free and drug-free for 30 months..

The New Yorker is the first non-white patient to recover from HIV, as well as being the first person to have relapsed after receiving stem cells from the umbilical cord. Others from Berlin, London, and Düsseldorf, who were referred to as patients, also recovered from the virus, only after receiving stem cells from compatible adults who are carriers of a mutation that prevents HIV from entering cells.

Among these patients – all white males – the patient stands out because “It is extremely rare for people of a different color or race to find an adult donor who is not sufficiently related.”, explains Yvonne Bryson, Professor of Pediatrics at UCLA, who participated in the study.

Why did the New York patient receive cells from the umbilical cord?

If only about 1% of whites are homozygous For the CCR5-delta32 mutation and even less common in other populations, doctors knew it would be nearly impossible to find a suitable adult donor for the New York patient. That’s why the healthcare team decided to transplant stem cells carrying the mutation into the blood of the umbilical cord to treat cancer and HIV simultaneously.

Because cord blood cells are present in smaller quantities, “after they’re infused, they take a little longer to fill the body,” explains Bryson. Found solution like this was to use a mixture of stem cells from a compatible relative of the patient, along with cells from umbilical cord blood.. This procedure “gives cord blood cells a head start,” says the pediatrician.

Because it’s a highly invasive process, according to Deborah Persaud, an infectious diseases specialist at Johns Hopkins University, the study’s other author. Stem cell transplantation is applied only to patients who need transplantation for reasons other than HIV treatment..