Two men who became free of HIV infection after bone marrow transplants have stopped taking AIDS drugs without any sign of the virus returning, according to scientists.
Talk of a cure is premature, the doctors told the International AIDS Society conference in Kuala Lumpur, but the news will raise hopes that progress can be made towards a treatment that will not only keep the virus at bay but eventually eradicate it.
The two men, who had longstanding HIV infections, were given bone marrow transplants at the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Centre in Boston because they were suffering from cancers of the blood. Tests showed that as their own cells were replaced by cells from the bone marrow donor, the levels of virus in their blood steadily dropped to undetectable.
Full Story: No sign of HIV return in bone marrow trtansplant patients, say scientists