A decades-old cancer strategy may have just inched HIV research into new territory. In a small study, two people saw their HIV levels plunge to undetectable levels—one for close to two years—after just one infusion of genetically engineered immune cells, without continuing standard daily medication, reports the New York Times. The experimental therapy developed by the Caring Cross nonprofit retools a patient's own T-cells so they can both recognize and destroy HIV-infected cells and resist infection themselves.
Three participants who began HIV treatment soon after infection showed some level of control after the infusion and once medications were stopped; two have remained in remission for 92 and 48 weeks, with only brief viral "blips." Those patients infected longer before starting treatment mainly didn't respond to it. Experts call the work an early "proof of concept," stressing that the approach of removing a patient's immune cells, then reinserting them, is invasive, costly, and far from ready for broad use.
But researchers say the findings, which will be presented at a Boston gene therapy conference on Tuesday, could guide more scalable versions—including in-body gene editing and combinations with potent antibodies—that might one day deliver something close to a one-time, long-lasting HIV "functional cure." The Advocate notes that this study comes on the heels of research published earlier this year in which T-cell therapy designed to fight HIV, which Reuters notes can eventually develop into AIDS if left untreated, cut down on hidden HIV reserves in six patients.
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