Transplantation in HIV-infected subjects: is cure possible?

With the advent of effective antiretroviral therapy, the treatment of patients with HIV-related malignancies, especially lymphoma, has greatly improved, yielding results comparable to those seen in patients with lymphoma unrelated to HIV. The platform of transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells has facilitated studies of genetically modified stem cells engineered to express antiretroviral genes to resist infection by the HIV virus, testing the concept that engraftment of these cells will lead to HIV resistance and elimination of the reservoir of virus in the body. Results in patients with HIV and lymphoma have now led to studies that will test these principles in HIV patients without concomitant malignancy. In addition, in a patient with HIV and acute myeloid leukemia, the success of an allogeneic transplantation from an unrelated donor carrying a mutation in the CCR5 genes has demonstrated that, in principle, such an approach could also lead to cure of patients with HIV. Case studies in HIV patients with leukemia undergoing allogeneic transplantation also suggest that there may be a therapeutic effect on the HIV reservoir that could alter the natural history of HIV in the allogeneic setting.