London Patient Remains in HIV Remission — But Is He Cured?

Last year, researchers reported what may be the second case of a person cured of HIV, the so-called “London patient” (NEJM JW Infect Dis Apr 2019 and Nature 2019; 568:244). The man had HIV infection and refractory Hodgkin lymphoma and underwent stem cell transplantation from a donor who lacked the CCR5 coreceptor for HIV (the donor was homozygous CCR5Δ32). The patient subsequently stopped antiretroviral therapy (ART) and had no evidence of HIV rebound after 18 months. Now, the investigators report longer-term follow-up, to 30 months after ART discontinuation.

The patient continued to have plasma HIV RNA levels below the level of detection, even using research assays that pick up as little as 1 copy/mL of the virus. The investigators found no…