Can a single infusion of immune cells suppress HIV for years?

"Two individuals in a trial saw HIV presence lower to undetectable levels following an experimental infusion of engineered immune cells. Detailed data on findings will soon be presented in full to the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy in Boston. While the one-infusion treatment may not become widely available for years, the study shows a "proof of concept" that could alter treatment of infections dramatically."

"The treatment involves taking a patient's own immune cells and engineering them to recognize HIV. In the trial, a single infusion of the engineered immune cells was then administered in patients. Participants in trials stopped taking antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV after receiving the infusion but remained at undetectable levels."

"Similar cellular therapy has been used successfully to treat a variety of blood cancers for about a decade. Advances in HIV treatment over the last four decades have changed how people live with HIV significantly. Once widely considered a death sentence, treatments now allow people to live long and productive lives while managing the medical condition, whether with daily pills or once-a-month shots."

"This new experimental treatment, though, offers promise, as some individuals remained at undetectable levels two years after a single infusion. It provides hope for scientists to eventually find a "functional cure" for HIV, though far more work remains to be done. Dr. James Riley, an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania, told the Times that the modification of immune cells to address HIV will likely derive from cancer research, just as the new experimental treatments are based"

A new regimen using engineered immune cells may suppress HIV effectively. In a trial, two participants received a single infusion of their own immune cells modified to recognize HIV. After the infusion, participants stopped antiretroviral drugs and maintained undetectable HIV levels. The results provide proof of concept for dramatically changing infection treatment. The approach resembles cellular therapies used for blood cancers, which have been in use for about a decade. Some participants remained undetectable for up to two years after one infusion. The findings offer hope for developing a functional cure, though extensive further research is required. Future advances are expected to build on cancer immunotherapy methods.

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