The New England Journal of Medicine
Long-Term Control of HIV by CCR5 Delta32/Delta32 Stem-Cell Transplantation
Gero Hütter, M.D., Daniel Nowak, M.D., Maximilian Mossner, B.S., Susanne Ganepola, M.D., Arne Müßig, M.D., Kristina Allers, Ph.D., Thomas Schneider, M.D., Ph.D., Jörg Hofmann, Ph.D., Claudia Kücherer, M.D., Olga Blau, M.D., Igor W. Blau, M.D., Wolf K. Hofmann, M.D., and Eckhard Thiel, M.D.
Editorial
by Levy, J. A.
SUMMARY
Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) requires the presence of a CD4 receptor and a chemokine receptor, principally chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5). Homozygosity for a 32-bp deletion in the CCR5 allele provides resistance against HIV-1 acquisition. We transplanted stem cells from a donor who was homozygous for CCR5 delta32 in a patient with acute myeloid leukemia and HIV-1 infection. The patient remained without viral rebound 20 months after transplantation and discontinuation of antiretroviral therapy. This outcome demonstrates the critical role CCR5 plays in maintaining HIV-1 infection.
Source Information
From the Department of Hematology, Oncology, and Transfusion Medicine (G.H., D.N., M.M., S.G., A.M., O.B., I.W.B., W.K.H., E.T.) and the Department of Gastroenterology, Infectious Diseases, and Rheumatology (K.A., T.S.), Campus Benjamin Franklin; and the Institute of Medical Virology, Campus Mitte (J.H.) — all at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin; and the Robert Koch Institute (C.K.) — all in Berlin.
Drs. Hofmann and Thiel contributed equally to this article.
Address reprint requests to Dr. Hütter at Medical Department III Hematology, Oncology, and Transfusion Medicine, Charité Campus Benjamin Franklin, Hindenburgdamm 30 D-12203 Berlin, Germany, or at gero.huetter@charite.de.
Full Text of this Article
This article has been cited by other articles:
Levy, J. A. (2009). Not an HIV Cure, but Encouraging New Directions. NEJM 360: 724-725 [Full Text]
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