PLOS Science Wednesday: Hi reddit, we’re Nathan and Stacey, and we
published a case study of a patient whose HIV was undetectable and may
have been cured after allogeneic stem cell treatment – Ask Us Anything!
Abstract
Hi Reddit, My name is Nathan Cummins, and I am the Research Chair in the
Division of Infectious Diseases at the Mayo Clinic Rochester. My
research focuses on studying how HIV prevents cell death in some cells
that it infects, and repurposing drugs to modify those effects. And my
name is Stacey Rizza and I am the Chair of the HIV Clinic at Mayo
Clinic, Rochester. My work focuses on HIV and solid organ and stem cell
transplantation. We recently published a paper titled “Extensive
virological and immunological characterization in an HIV-infected
individual following allogeneic stem cell transplant and analytic
cessation of antiretroviral therapy: a case study” in PLOS Medicine.
This manuscript examined the immunologic and virologic changes that
occurred in a patient with chronic HIV infection who was diagnosed with
ALL, and who underwent Allo-PBSCT. We found that the amount of HIV that
was present in this patient was reduced to undetectable levels, and that
his serologic tests for HIV were reverting to negative, suggesting that
he may have been cured from HIV infection. Ultimately, we stopped his
HIV therapy, and observed no HIV rebound for 288 days following
treatment interruption, when a viral species that was unrelated to his
pre-transplant virus rebounded. We will be answering your questions at
1pm ET – Ask me Anything!