Woman cleared of HIV after transplant with umbilical-cord blood

Cord-blood treatment offers new hope for more people with HIV to be cured.

A woman in the United States has become the third person to be cured of HIV. She was treated with a new method: a transplant with umbilical-cord blood.

The woman stopped antiretroviral therapy 37 months after the transplant and, more than 14 months later, still shows no signs of HIV in blood tests.

Two other people have been cleared of HIV after a cancer-treating bone-marrow transplant.

Transplanting cord blood, instead of bone marrow, allowed researchers to use a partially matched donor for the woman, who is of mixed race while giving her immune system a boost with blood from a close relative.

This fresh approach could offer the promise of treatment to more HIV-positive people, regardless of their race or ethnicity.

source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00483-y