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). 

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

Recent publications and presentations

Sustained HIV remission after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation with wild-type CCR5 donor cells
Asier Sáez-Cirión, Anne-Claire Mamez, Véronique Avettand-Fenoel, Mitja Nabergoj, Caroline Passaes, Paul Thoueille, Laurent Decosterd, Maxime Hentzien, Federico Perdomo-Celis, Maria Salgado, Monique Nijhuis, Adeline Melard, Elise Gardiennet, Valérie Lorin, Valérie Monceaux, Anais Chapel, Mael Gourves, Marine Lechartier, Hugo Mouquet, Annemarie Wensing, Javier Martínez Picado, Sabine Yerly, Mathieu Rougemont & Alexandra Calmy

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