Remission rather than cure

While the discovery of a cure for HIV seems some way off, International AIDS Society President Françoise Barré-Sinoussi  (who discovered the virus) believes remission is more likely achievable. A person living with HIV is regarded as being in remission when the virus  is not active enough to require treatment.

To date, there have been several cases of HIV remission. The French ‘Visconti cohort’ comprises of 20 people who were treated very early with antiretroviral drugs before stopping treatment altogether. A decade later, the group still appear to be keeping the virus  at bay. Then there is the ‘Berlin patient’ — Timothy Brown — who, after a bone-marrow transplant, remains off treatment and virus -free six years on.

There have been setbacks, however. The ‘Mississippi baby’, who was in remission for more than two years, has recently experienced an HIV rebound. And two ‘Boston patients’ who were virus -free for 12 and 32 weeks both relapsed and returned to treatment. Acknowledging that researchers and scientists have to “take the highs with the lows”, Professor Barré- Sinoussi nevertheless remains optimistic that long-term remission strategies will be found.

“To achieve long-term HIV remission we will likely need to tackle the problem on multiple fronts,” she said. “Lowering as much as possible the number of long-lived, latently infected cells present in the body, as well as bolstering the host defence. One cannot be done without the other.”

Berlin patient Mississippi baby remission Visconti cohort