Seminari VHIR - Dr. Javier Martínez Picado "Hematological stem cell therapy to cure HIV infection: so close, so far"
Dr. Javier Martínez Picado - ICREA Research Professor at AIDS Research Institute IrsiCaixa - Associated professor at UVic-UCC
"Hematological stem cell therapy to cure HIV infection: so close, so far"
HIV infection can be treated but not cured. If antiretroviral treatment is stopped virus rebounds in blood within a few days. This is due to the persistence of viral reservoirs despite the effective antiviral treatment. To date, the only evidence of a medical intervention that has been able to cure HIV-1 infection (the “Berlin patient”), involved an allogeneic hematological stem cell transplant (HSCT) from a donor who was homozygous for CCR5Ä32. The multifactorial mechanisms that led to such a unique outcome were not clear yet, mainly due to the scarce number of HIV+ transplanted subject that has been reported. The IciStem Consortium has compiled the first cohort of HIV+ individuals that have gone through a HSCT with a comprehensive clinical, virological and immunological follow up. Last month a second case of cure was reported within the IciStem cohort.
Host: Digestive and Liver Diseases maria.cortese@vhir.org frarodriguez@vhebron.net