A 64-year-old man in Oslo has remained free of HIV for five years after receiving a stem cell transplant from his brother, who carries a rare genetic mutation that blocks the virus from entering cells.
The patient, diagnosed with HIV in 2006 and later with myelodysplastic syndrome in 2017, underwent the transplant in 2019 to treat his blood cancer. His brother was identified as a donor with the CCR5Δ32/Δ32 mutation, which prevents HIV from infecting immune cells by removing the receptor the virus uses to gain entry.
Antiretroviral therapy was stopped 24 months after the transplant. Subsequent testing of blood, bone marrow, and gut tissue showed no detectable HIV DNA or replication-competent virus. Analysis of over 65 million immune cells found no virus capable of multiplying and no HIV-specific T-cell responses.
The patient’s HIV antibody levels declined gradually over four years post-transplant. Doctors at Oslo University Hospital described the outcome as a cure “for all practical purposes,” noting the patient now has more energy than he knows what to do with.
This case marks the tenth known instance of HIV remission following a stem cell transplant, and the first where the donor was a close relative. All prior cases involved donors who were unrelated matches, making this the first successful intra-familial transplant for HIV cure.
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The CCR5Δ32/Δ32 mutation occurs in approximately 1% of people of European descent. Finding a matched donor with this mutation is rare, and the procedure itself carries significant risk, limiting its use to patients with both HIV and life-threatening blood cancers requiring transplantation.
Experts caution that while the result is promising, the approach is not scalable for the broader HIV-positive population due to the dangers of the procedure and the scarcity of suitable donors. Stem cell transplants remain reserved for treating malignancies, not as a primary HIV cure.
The patient described the outcome as feeling like “winning the lottery twice,” referencing both his survival from cancer and the unexpected HIV remission.
Why can’t this method be used to cure HIV in most people?
The stem cell transplant procedure is high-risk and only justified for patients with both HIV and a life-threatening blood cancer like leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome. It’s not ethical or safe to use it solely for HIV cure in otherwise healthy individuals.
How rare is the CCR5Δ32/Δ32 mutation that made this cure possible?
The mutation occurs in about 1 in 100 people of European ancestry, meaning only a compact fraction of the population is naturally resistant to HIV in this way, and finding a matched donor with both the mutation and compatible tissue type is extremely uncommon.
