US woman becomes first to be cured of HIV using umbilical cord blood treatment

A leukaemia patient in the United States has become the first woman and only third person ever to be cured of HIV after receiving a transplant of umbilical cord blood in a unique treatment. The previous two male patients, who were cured of AIDS, had received bone marrow transplants with stem cells with a mutation that blocks the virus. On Tuesday, the latest case was showcased at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Denver, Colorado.

Although the woman has now been free of the virus for 14 months, experts say this transplant method is too risky to be suitable for most people with HIV. The recent case was part of a larger study of Americans living with HIV who had previously received the same type of blood transplant to treat cancer and other serious diseases. 

Cord blood is widely available compared to adult stem cells used in bone marrow transplants, making this new technique appear promising to facilitate more accessible HIV treatments. The transplanted cells selected in the umbilical cord blood transplant have a specific genetic mutation, which means HIV can't infect them.

According to a New York Times report, the recovered patient is a middle-aged woman of mixed race. Having been diagnosed with HIV in 2013, the lady had been on antiretroviral drugs. In March 2017, she was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukaemia. In October 2020, she received the mutation-containing umbilical cord blood transplant and had not shown any signs of relapse. Blood tests show no signs of both HIV and antibodies to HIV.

WATCH: A leukemia patient in US becomes 1st woman and 3rd person ever to be cured of HIV, after receiving a transplant of umbilical cord blood in a novel treatment technique for AIDS. pic.twitter.com/u5jc12gygQ

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In 2008, Timothy Ray Brown from California, popularly known as 'Berlin Patient', became the first to be cured of AIDS. His identity was revealed two years later, but unfortunately, Brown died in 2020 from leukaemia. In 2019, Adam Castillejo, known as the 'London Patient', was the second to be cured of HIV.

Also read: Big breakthrough! US surgeons successfully attach pig kidney to a human