Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin researchers reported the first documented instance of a sustained, treatment-free HIV remission after allogeneic stem-cell transplantation (allo-SCT) in a recipient who lacked complete resistance to HIV. The study challenges long-held assumptions about HIV suppression and renews interest in strategies that focus on reservoir elimination and immune clearance.

From “het” to “het”

For many years, the CCR5Δ32 mutation, which blocks a key HIV co-receptor on immune cells, has been considered crucial for any cure achieved through allo-SCT. The initial case of the “Berlin patient,” who received donor cells homozygous for CCR5Δ32 , shaped the field’s expectations and rendered many of his immune cells functionally resistant to HIV infection.

However, i

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