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BWH's Timothy Henrich presents encouraging findings at the International AIDS Society Conference in Malaysia.
Though BWH researchers caution that it's too soon to determine if two patients have been cured of HIV-the virus that causes AIDS-new findings provide a hopeful sign.
The two patients, who have had longstanding HIV infections, first saw HIV vanish from their bodies after undergoing bone marrow transplants three and five years ago, respectively, at the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center as part of blood cancer treatments. The patients, who wish to remain anonymous, came off of anti-retroviral therapy, which is used to manage HIV, and continue to have no detectable HIV in their blood cells.
BWH physician-researcher Timothy Henrich, MD, and Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases Daniel Kuritzkes, MD, presented these encouraging findings at the International AIDS Society Conference in Malaysia earlier this month.
"While these results are exciting, they do not yet indicate that the men have been cured," said Henrich. "Follow-up of at least one year will be required to understand the full impact of a bone marrow transplant on HIV."
Last summer, Henrich and Kuritzkes announced that the virus was easily detected in blood cells of both men prior to their transplants and became undetectable by eight months post-transplant. However, at the time, the men remained on anti-retroviral therapy.
"The virus could still be present in other tissues, such as the brain or gastrointestinal track," said Henrich. "If the virus does return, it would suggest that these other sites are an important reservoir of infectious viruses and that new approaches will be needed to guide the development of cure strategies for HIV."