Bone marrow transplant to treat AIDS

US researchers say that two long-term HIV-infected men with bone marrow transplantation now do not need antiviral therapy, according to UPI news agency.

Dr Timothy Henrich and Daniel Kuritzkes of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Brigham Women's Hospital in Boston said one of the two patients had stopped antiviral therapy 15 weeks ago, and the other had stopped seven weeks ago. .

Bone marrow

Last summer, Henrich and Kuritzkes claimed that the HIV virus was easily detected in the lymph cells of two men before they received a bone marrow transplant, but were unable to find eight months later. However, at that time, two patients still had to apply antiviral therapy.

Since stopping antiviral therapy this spring, two patients still have no detectable DNA or HIV RNA in the blood.

'Although these results are very exciting, they have not proven that the medical conditions have been cured. We will have to continue monitoring for at least a year to understand the complete effect of bone marrow transplant on the persistence of HIV , 'said Henrich.

The study showed a decrease of at least 1,000-10,000 times the size of an HIV-containing drive in the peripheral blood of two patients, but the virus may be present in other tissues such as the brain or gastrointestinal tract.

'If the virus comes back, it will show that these other areas are an important contagious virus reservoir and need new ways to evaluate the virus reservoir in the relevant areas before proceeding to deliver. developing HIV treatment strategies, ' he stressed.

The research results were presented at the International AIDS Society Conference in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) on July 3.