International Collaboration to guide and investigate the potential for HIV cure by Stem Cell Transplantation


IciStem is a collaborative project to guide and investigate the potential for HIV cure in HIV-infected patients requiring allogeneic stem cell transplantation for hematological disorders.


The IciStem consortium is composed of an expert European review panel of hematologists with experience in allogeneic SCT procedures along with infectious disease specialists, virologist and immunologists with expertise in the field of HIV-1 tropism, reservoirs and cure.

We prospectively study allogeneic SCT recipients with HIV-1 infection, collecting complete information on underlying malignancy, chemotherapy, transplant procedure, donor selection, HIV-tropism, cART, and virological and immunological characteristics of a variety of samples before and after the transplant. 

Information for people with HIV

IciStem investigates systematically the HIV reservoir in people with HIV who either had or may get an allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Each individual with HIV registered at the IciStem program participates in a local study led by his/her treating physicians. IciStem advises systematic collection of clinical data and blood, tissue and CSF samples before and after the stem cell transplantation. Read more here.


Consortium statement on treatment interruption

Successful treatment of HIV is the suppression of the virus in the blood as measured through blood tests. While the virus is suppressed in the blood - registering undetectable in blood tests - the virus remains in infected cells in a dormant state (the ‘viral reservoir’). When treatment is interrupted the virus usually rebounds in the blood to detectable levels within 2–3 weeks from the release of infectious virus from the viral reservoir. 

Treatment of HIV has improved drastically over the past years, new developments are on the rise, and an HIV cure is gradually becoming a more realistic outcome. The only way to evaluate the effectiveness of a functional (virological control in the absence of antiretroviral therapy) or sterilizing (virus eradication) cure of HIV is to interrupt antiretroviral therapy (ART). 

ART interruption must only be performed in a controlled clinical setting with monitoring over time of the viral rebound and the ability for scientifically evaluation. 

Towards finding new strategies and a cure for HIV IciStem encourages and supports treatment interruption in a clinical setting with the consent of individuals with HIV. IciStem strongly discourages treatment interruption in any uncontrolled setting. 

In choosing to participate in HIV scientific research people with HIV should be informed and understand the risks of a viral rebound from their viral reservoir, which may lead to acute retroviral syndrome, increased risk of HIV transmission, accelerated disease progression, and the possible development of drug resistance.

The IciStem consortium respects and appreciates the risks people with HIV are willing to take in helping us scientifically pursue cure research. IciStem consortium members strongly advise individuals who are willing to interrupt/stop their treatment to discuss this with their clinician prior to interruption, and to only do it under medical/clinical supervision. If you do this in the IciStem consortium we will provide advice on when and how to proceed based on our evaluation of cure research protocol and actively partner with you towards minimizing the risks to you during treatment interruption.

NEWS

Just published in Nature Medicine
Sustained HIV remission after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation with wild-type CCR5 donor cells

The sixth person, also known as the Geneva patient (Nr. 34 in the IciStem cohort) with long term remission of HIV-1 infection after receiving a stem cell transplant. The 53-years-old male living in Switzerland who was diagnosed to be HIV-1 positive since 1990 and diagnosed with myeloid sarcoma in 2018 has undergo a stem cell transplant in hope to cure from both diseases. Now six years later, there is no HIV detected in the plasma. The Geneva patient has received stem cells from a donor without a CCR-5 mutation but has taken a specific drug called a Jak-inhibitor which may have altered the immune response to HIV

May 2024: The Lancet HIV
Dynamics of virological and immunological markers of HIV persistence after allogeneic haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation in the IciStem cohort: a prospective observational cohort study

July 2023
HIV: 20 months' remission after a bone marrow transplant with no protective mutation – the Geneva patient (IciStem participant #34)

February 2023: Cure of IciStem participant #19 The Düsseldorf patient
A 53-year-old man in Germany has become at least the third person with HIV to be declared cleared of the virus after a procedure that replaced his bone marrow cells with HIV-resistant stem cells from a donor. Read more about this in Nature magazine and the dutch newspaper Trouw.


In memoriam 

Timothy Brown
With great sadness we have been informed that Timothy Brown, known as the “Berlin Patient”, has passed away on Tuesday September 29th, due to leukemia. He has been and is still a great inspiration for HIV/AIDS patients and scientists for all over the world. Timothy was also the source of inspiration for the IciStem study. Read the full message here.

Recent publications and presentations

Maria Salgado, Cristina Gálvez, Monique Nijhuis, Mi Kwon, E Fabian Cardozo-Ojeda, Jon Badiola, Matthew J Gorman, Laura E P Huyveneers, Victor Urrea, Alessandra Bandera, Björn-Erik Ole Jensen, Linos Vandekerckhove, Manuel Jurado, Kavita Raj, Julian Schulze zur Wiesch, Rebeca Bailén, Johanna M Eberhard, Mitja Nabergoj MD, Gero Hütter, Raquel Saldaña-Moreno, Sharon Oldford, Lisa Barrett, Maria Luisa Montes Ramirez, Salisu Garba, Prof Ravi Kumar Gupta, Boris Revollo, Christelle Ferra-Coll, Prof Jurgen Kuball, Galit Alter, Asier Sáez-Cirión, Jose Luis Diez-Martin, Elizabeth R Duke, Prof Joshua T Schiffer, Annemarie Wensing, Prof Javier Martinez-Picado, on behalf of the IciStem Consortium

In-depth virological and immunological characterization of HIV-1 cure after CCR5Δ32/Δ32 allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
Björn-Erik Ole Jensen, Elena Knops, Leon Cords, Nadine Lübke, Maria Salgado, Kathleen Busman-Sahay, Jacob D. Estes, Laura E. P. Huyveneers, Federico Perdomo-Celis, Melanie Wittner, Cristina Gálvez, Christiane Mummert, Caroline Passaes, Johanna M. Eberhard, Carsten Münk, Ilona Hauber, Joachim Hauber, Eva Heger, Jozefien De Clercq, Linos Vandekerckhove, Silke Bergmann, Gábor A. Dunay, Florian Klein, Dieter Häussinger, Johannes C. Fischer, Kathrin Nachtkamp, Joerg Timm, Rolf Kaiser, Thomas Harrer, Tom Luedde, Monique Nijhuis, Asier Sáez-Cirión, Julian Schulze zur Wiesch, Annemarie M. J. Wensing, Javier Martinez-Picado & Guido Kobbe
Nature Medicine (2023) Feb 20

Autopsy Study Defines Composition and Dynamics of the HIV-1 Reservoir after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation with CCR5Δ32/Δ32 Donor Cells.
Huyveneers LEP, Bruns A, Stam A, Ellerbroek P, de Jong D, Nagy NA, Gumbs SBH, Tesselaar K, Bosman K, Salgado M, Hütter G, Brosens LAA, Kwon M, Diez Martin J, van der Meer JTM, de Kort TM, Sáez-Cirión A, Schulze Zur Wiesch J, Boelens JJ, Martinez-Picado J, Kuball JHE, Wensing AMJ, Nijhuis M
IciStem Consortium.Viruses. 2022 Sep 17;14(9):2069. doi: 10.3390/v14092069.PMID: 36146874.

Johanna M. Eberhard, Mathieu Angin, Caroline Passaes, Maria Salgado, Valerie Monceaux, Elena Knops, Guido Kobbe, Björn Jensen, Maximilian Christopeit, Nicolaus Kröger, Linos Vandekerckhove, Jon Badiola, Alessandra Bandera, Kavita Raj, Jan van Lunzen, Gero Hütter, Jürgen H. E. Kuball, Carolina Martinez-Laperche, Pascual Balsalobre, Mi Kwon, José L. Díez-Martín, Monique Nijhuis, Annemarie Wensing, Javier Martinez-Picado, Julian Schulze zur Wiesch and Asier Sáez-Cirión
Sci Transl Med. 2020 May 6;12(542):eaay9355. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aay9355.

Ravindra Kumar Gupta, Dimitra Peppa, Alison L Hill, Cristina Gálvez, Maria Salgado, Matthew Pace, Laura E McCoy, Sarah A Griffith, John Thornhill, Aljawharah Alrubayyi, Laura E P Huyveneers, Eleni Nastouli, Paul Grant, Simon G Edwards, Andrew J Innes, John Frater, Monique Nijhuis, Annemarie J Wensing, Javier Martinez-Picado, Eduardo Olavarria
Lancet HIV. 2020 Mar 9. pii: S2352-3018(20)30069-2. 

HIV-1 remission following CCR5Δ32/Δ32 haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation.
Gupta RK, Abdul-Jawad S, McCoy LE, Mok HP, Peppa D, Salgado M, Martinez-Picado J, Nijhuis M, Wensing AMJ, Lee H, Grant P, Nastouli E, Lambert J, Pace M, Salasc F, Monit C, Innes AJ, Muir L, Waters L, Frater J, Lever AML, Edwards SG, Gabriel IH, Olavarria E.
Nature. 2019 Apr;568(7751):244-248. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1027-4. Epub 2019 Mar 5.PMID: 30836379 







The IciStem project is currently supported by the Aidsfonds. IciStem was established with funding from the AmfAR Research Consortium on HIV eradication (ARCHE) Research Grant # 109858-64-RSRL


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