Possible HIV Cure Fails to Remove Virus From Two Patients

It looks as though a cure for the HIV virus continues, as a possible cure for the virus was found to be unsuccessful in the two patients who appeared to have beaten the disease.

The two men were found to have undetectable levels of the HIV virus after they underwent bone marrow transplants. After undergoing the surgery it seemed as though the virus had been defeated, and many throughout the world believed that a cure for the AIDS causing virus was found. However, later it was determined that the virus had managed to stay in the two patients despite doctors feeling confident enough to stop antiretroviral medication treatment that keeps the HIV virus in check.

Dr. Timothy Henrich of Brigham and Women's Hospital was the lead scientists of the study, and announced his initial findings in the two patients even though not all of the data was analyzed at the time. Henrich felt as though the information needed to be shared as quickly as possible, and many other studies prepared similar bone marrow transplants. However, Henrich later determined that the procedure did not yield permanent results, and then felt the need to again tell the scientific community about the findings.

The initial study was to determine if the two men could be cured of the HIV virus if they stopped their regular treatment and received bone marrow transplants. Initially it seemed as though both men had beaten the virus and Henrich made his announcement in July 2013, but by August one of the men had signs of the virus and resumed regular medication. The other man managed to go eight months with no sign of infection before the virus was again discovered in the man's body in November.

As lead scientist on the study, Dr. Henrich explained that it looks as though HIV reservoirs, which are latent cells found in the body that carry the HIV genetic code, run much deeper than they had previously thought:

"This suggests that we need to look deeper, or we need to be looking in other tissues . . . the liver, gut, and brain...These are all potential sources, but it's very difficult to obtain tissue from these places so we don't do that routinely."

Despite the failure of the study to find a cure for HIV, this point point to some promising leads as to how to treat and cure the virus in the future. It is possible that the results of this study could influence further studies into the virus and find a final solution to the HIV virus.