Miracle! American man cured of leukemia and AIDS after receiving stem cell transplant

68-year-old Californian man Paul Edmund announced that five years after bone marrow transplant, his acute myeloid leukemia has been essentially cured, making him the fifth person globally to be cured of AIDS. Edmund expressed extreme gratitude to all the medical staff who supported him through this procedure. To celebrate this medical miracle, his recovery case was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on February 15.

 

▲Paul Edmund

 

AIDS + Leukemia

Sentenced to death, but not ready to die

 

In 1988, Edmund was first diagnosed with AIDS. It was a time of great fear for AIDS, with the medical community having no solutions, leaving him feeling hopeless, as if he had been “sentenced to death”.

 

With the emergence of a new generation of antiretroviral drugs, he began antiretroviral therapy in 1997 to suppress the AIDS virus. However, the virus never disappeared, with its DNA remaining latent in immune cells.

 

In 2018, Edmund was dealt another blow when diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, also known as blood cancer. “I wasn’t ready to die.” Edmund underwent chemotherapy and began preparations for a bone marrow transplant.

 

Bone marrow transplant, also known as hematopoietic stem cell transplant, is a method to cure leukemia. By receiving donated bone marrow, patients can restart the normal production of blood and rebuild a healthy immune system, but they may also face the high risk of immune system weakening.

 

On February 6, 2019, he underwent a bone marrow transplant procedure at the City of Hope clinic in California.

 

Possessing HIV resistance

Bone marrow donor has rare mutation gene

 

Fortunately, the donor who was a successful match for him had a rare Delta 32 mutation gene. This mutation gene provides inherent resistance to the HIV virus, with only about 1-2% of people having this mutation gene.

 

After the surgery, Paul's bone marrow and blood stem cells were completely replaced by the healthy cells from the donor, and he showed no signs of leukemia or AIDS since then. In March 2021, Edmund decided to stop taking antiretroviral drugs. After nearly three years of close monitoring, doctors confirmed that there were no more traces of the AIDS virus in his body.

 

Edmund expressed deep gratitude to the medical team at the City of Hope. The doctors mentioned that this case proves that elderly cancer patients who undergo hematopoietic stem cell transplantation under low-intensity conditions may also be cured of HIV infection. Jana Dickert, a doctor at the City of Hope, expressed hope that more people in the future could benefit from such a dual-purpose treatment.

 

However, they emphasized that stem cell transplant surgery is a high-risk procedure, currently only applicable to specific cases of life-threatening blood cancer and AIDS. Additionally, due to the rarity of donors with specific genetic mutations, this treatment method cannot be widely used among the 38 million HIV-positive population worldwide.

 

▲Paul Edmund (Middle) and medical staff

 

Globally

Only 5 AIDS patients declared cured to date

 

Globally, there are currently only 5 AIDS patients who have been declared cured, namely the “Berlin patient”, “London patient”, “Dusseldorf patient”, “New York patient”, and “City of Hope patient”. 68-year-old American man Paul Edmund is the fifth "City of Hope patient" and was infected with the AIDS virus for the longest time among these 5 individuals.

 

Timothy Ray Brown, also known as the “Berlin patient”, was the first person to enter a long-term state of remission from the AIDS virus, undergoing bone marrow and stem cell transplants in 2007 and 2008, effectively curing the virus causing AIDS and leukemia. He passed away in 2020 from cancer at the age of 54.

 

In 2020, the “London patient” was declared the second AIDS patient to be cured 4 years after treatment.

 

In 2019, a German man was also cured of AIDS through stem cell transplantation, but it wasn't confirmed until last year by clinical doctors.

 

A woman from New York also experienced relief from AIDS and leukemia in 2022, becoming the first successfully treated female patient.

 

Furthermore, a European man known as the “Geneva patient” showed virus remission after undergoing a similar procedure for about 3 years, with reports in 2023 indicating he may soon become the sixth person declared cured.