Aids therapy through bone marrow donation?

Hope for successful AIDS therapy muted by bone marrow donation

08/12/2013

In July, headlines such as Two Patients HIV Free After Therapy made the rounds. Two men in the US had received a bone marrow donation for cancer, and then appeared to be free of the HIV virus for months. But now doctors said the pathogen was not defeated.

Bone marrow donation due to cancer
For several months, two HIV-infected men were considered free of the virus after receiving a bone marrow donation for cancer. Both patients had not taken any AIDS medication for weeks, and the virus was no longer detectable in both. One of the treating physicians, Timothy Henrich of the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, said, "Although these results are exciting, they do not mean that the men are cured." To see what the therapy really is have done, you have to wait at least another year. The transplants of the two men suffering from lymph node cancer were already years old, but the HIV medications were discontinued only a few weeks before the new results. A third patient, who had also been treated, died as a result of his cancer.

Bad news announced
But it did not take a year to see what the therapy really did. A few days ago Henrich had to announce bad news at a conference in Miami, Florida. The US media reported that the virus was again detectable in both patients. One of the men had again increased virus levels in August. The other, however, decided to continue suspending his medication until his viral load rose again in November, the Boston Globe reported..

Not all data analyzed yet
The scientists had decided to announce the results as soon as possible, even before they analyzed all the data. "We felt it was unfair not to let people know what the state of affairs is - especially to potential patients," Henrich told the Globe. The return of the virus indicates that there are reservoirs in the body that are difficult to detect. But even though the result was not hoped for, Henrich suggests that this could be a starting point for the treatment of HIV infections.

Berlin patient caused a worldwide sensation
In 2008, a patient from Berlin caused a worldwide sensation. In his case, the number of HI viruses had also fallen below the detection limit following a bone marrow transplantation. The bone marrow donation had been carried out as part of a blood cancer therapy. Gero Hütter, who was working at the University of Heidelberg today, explained that bone marrow transplants are not a general therapy option against AIDS. Transplants are associated with too high a risk, as the immune system of the recipient is deliberately weakened. The doctors had therefore used both in Boston and in Berlin, the treatment only in the case of very seriously ill cancer patients. (Ad)