A patient at the Sainte-Marguerite hospital in Marseille is in remission of HIV.
- A HIV patient from Sainte-Marguerite Hospital has been potentially healed.
- She received a bone marrow transplant from a donor with a deletion called Delta32 at the CCR5 gene. The latter allows you to fight against HIV.
- This is the 1st case of potential healing in France and the 8th in the world.
First case in France and 8e in the world. A patient at Sainte-Marguerite Hospital who received a bone marrow transplant was declared in remission of HIV after stopping her antiretroviral treatments.
HIV remission: a bone marrow transplant with a rare particularity
This patient, diagnosed with HIV-positive and treated by antiretrovirals for 20 years, has developed acute myeloid leukemia in February 2020. Management at the Paoli-Calmettes Institute, she benefited in July from the same year from a bone marrow transplant . The primary objective was to stop cancer. However, his doctors found the ideal donor for this woman infected with HIV.
“The team of the Paoli-Calmettes Institute managed to find a donor not only compatible, but also presenting a particularity sought in this type of case: a deletion called Delta32 at the CCR5 gene, co-receiver used by the virus HIV as a gateway to the cells of the people he infected. explains Dr Sylvie Bregigeon who heads the human immunodeficiency and viral hepatitis information center of the Sainte-Marguerite Hospital in a press release.
This is not the first time that this type of procedure has been carried out on patients with HIV. There are currently 7 cases of functional healing of HIV after a bone marrow allogreffe linked to the treatment of lymphoma or leukemia.
“For 6 of them, the donor brought the Delta 32 mutation on the CCR5 receiver. The Cisih and the IPC teams thus had a hope that it is the same for their patient.”
HIV: a treatment that is difficult to reproducible
The bone marrow transplant was a success: the patient was declared in remission of her leukemia. For 3 years, she continued her antiretroviral therapy. During its follow -up, various virological examinations were carried out to determine the viral load of HIV in its body.
“As these negative results persisted over time, with an absence of any trace of viruses, we decided collegially in a multidisciplinary consultation meeting grouping physician specialists in HIV, virologist, immunologist and hematologist, the cessation of antiretroviral treatment. The patient has Stopped its treatment in October 2023, with a strategy to control its virological and immunological parameters, first weekly, then bimonthly and now monthly. From T lymphocytes T CD4+ has gone from 250 to 1289/mm3 to the last control, the normal values being between 650 and 1500/mm3. their expenses, they are a reflection of our immune defenses “specifies Dr Sylvie Bregigeon.
Additional data is necessary before publication of this case in scientific journals. “But we can already talk about remission of HIV infection and a potential case of healing, the first in France and the 8e in the world “estimates the specialist.
If these cases of HIV remission are wonderful news, allogreffe treatment is not reproducible in all patients, warns the Marseille establishment. “It involves very heavy conditioning with intensive chemotherapy, radiotherapy, long hospitalization in sterile chambers … only possible and justifiable in the context of the treatment of malignant hemopathy like lymphoma or leukemia”indicates the hospital.
