Is HIV Eradication Feasible?

Bone marrow stem cells may have cured one manof HIV (Hütter, et al. N Engl J Med. 2009;360:692-8).The patient had been infected with HIV for a whilebefore developing acute myeloid leukemia. He receiveda stem-cell transplant from a donor who washomozygote for Δ32 CCR5. Interestingly, the patienthas remained without viral rebound 20 months aftertransplantation and discontinuation of antiretroviraltherapy. Moreover, a search for HIV sequences inproviral DNA has also failed to prove that the viruscould still be hidden in some reservoirs. In addition,the CD4+ T-cell count has returned to a normalrange.