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In 2009, researchers published a case report of an HIV-infected man with leukemia who had maintained drug-free virologic control for at least 20 months after receiving a stem-cell transplant from a donor who was homozygous for the CCR5Δ32 allele. In 2011, the patient was still free of HIV, more than 3.5 years after stopping antiretroviral therapy (ART; JW AIDS Clin Care Jan 10 2011). This singular case has prompted new efforts to cure HIV infection.
One major barrier to achieving a cure is the persistence of residual viremia in almost all patients on suppressive ART. Not only does ART fail to eradicate HIV from circulating CD4 cells, but it might not prevent cell-to-cell spread of the virus either (JW Infect Dis Sep 21 2011), for example in …