Norwegian Man Achieves HIV Remission After Stem Cell Transplant

A 64-year-old man in Oslo, Norway, has achieved long-term remission from HIV five years after receiving a stem cell transplant from his brother to treat bone marrow cancer, marking only the tenth documented case of its kind worldwide.

The patient, first diagnosed with HIV in 2006 at age 44, had managed the virus with antiretroviral therapy, which suppressed it to undetectable levels and prevented transmission. In 2018, he developed myelodysplastic syndrome, a form of blood cancer that impairs the bone marrow's ability to produce healthy cells. After an initial response to chemotherapy failed, doctors at Oslo University Hospital performed an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant using cells from his sibling donor. The procedure, intended solely for the cancer, unexpectedly addressed the HIV due to the brother's rare CCR5Δ32Δ32 genetic mutation, which eliminates the CCR5 receptor protein that HIV uses to infect immune cells.

Two years post-transplant, in 2020, the patient discontinued antiretroviral therapy under close medical supervision. Since then, extensive testing has shown no evidence of viral rebound. Researchers analyzed over 65 million immune cells from his blood,...