How Did the 'Berlin Patient' Rid Himself of HIV?

sciencehabit writes: Researchers are closer to unraveling the mystery of how Timothy Ray Brown, the only human cured of HIV, defeated the virus, according to a new study. Although the work doesn't provide a definitive answer, it rules out one possible explanation. [R]esearchers point to three different factors that could independently or in combination have rid Brown’s body of HIV. The first is the process of conditioning, in which doctors destroyed Brown’s own immune system with chemotherapy and whole body irradiation to prepare him for his bone marrow transplant. His oncologist, Gero Hütter, who was then with the Free University of Berlin, also took an extra step that he thought might not only cure the leukemia but also help rid Brown’s body of HIV. He found a bone marrow donor who had a rare mutation in a gene that cripples a key receptor on white blood cells the virus uses to establish an infection. (For years, researchers referred to Brown as "the Berlin patient.") The third possibility is his new immune system attacked remnants of his old one that held HIV-infected cells, a process known as graft versus host disease.

Comments

Missing in the Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

Although the work doesn't provide a definitive answer, it rules out one possible explanation

...that conditioning by itself likely cannot rid the body of the AIDS virus.

Re:Missing in the Summary

[ArmoredDragon]

IMO he probably still has traces of the virus within his body somewhere, but in such small quantities that it's undetectable. Other viruses are known to do this, such as chickenpox, which can resurface later in the form of shingles if the immune system ever weakens. Except HIV feeds off of the immune system itself, so it's likely he'll never see symptoms of it again.

However it would be unwise for him to do whatever he did to contract it in the first place as he could either spread his to somebody else or contract another variation of the disease that doesn't rely on the same receptor that he is now immune to (and yes, he does fit the "risk category" demographic if you haven't read his history.)