AIDS Foundation Chicago Hails Chicago Man Possibly Cured of HIV and His Care Team

Widespread HIV cures are years away; sustained funding is
needed today to make progress against HIV

On Wednesday, March 12, Chicago-based physician Dr. Paul Rubinstein announced at the 2025 CROI conference that a Chicago man was in remission of HIV off antiretroviral therapy for 10 months. If he continues to be in remission, he will become one of only eight people in the world who have been cured since 2008. This news provides incredible hope in the over 40-year fight against the HIV epidemic. Poz Magazine has an extensive summary and analysis.

AIDS Foundation Chicago (AFC) would like to offer huge congratulations to Dr. Rubinstein, a strong network of Chicago health care institutions and the amazing team of collaborators at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Vaccine Research Center and the National Cancer Institute section of HIV Dynamics and R5eplication. We would also like to congratulate the patient and his family for their support.  We are hoping he remains healthy long-term after a long and miraculous medical odyssey.

The man was a patient at Cook County Health and Hospital Systems and at the Ruth M. Rothstein Core Center where he was treated for his acute myeloid leukemia, followed by a lifesaving hematopoietic stem cell transplant at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center.  He received a stem cell transplant from a donor with a rare mutation that provides a natural immunity to HIV, and in turn, the patient himself has become resistant.  The man's case is unique because his HIV briefly returned after stopping his HIV meds 15 months after his transplant. However, after re-treatment with standard HIV medications for two years, his medications were stopped again.  He has now been off HIV medications for 10 months without recurrence, and is believed to be possibly cured of his HIV. 

It's critical to keep in mind that only nine people have been cured of HIV since 2008. A cure using this method remains extremely rare, expensive and challenging for patients, and it is unlikely to be widely used. There remains no widespread cure for HIV, and none on the immediate horizon. 

In Chicago, the U.S. and around the world, we must continue to invest in what we know works - PrEP, which is over 99% effective when taken consistently and correctly; and HIV treatment medications, which help people with HIV live long, healthy lives, and prevent HIV transmission to partners. Furthermore, supportive services like stable housing, case management, mental health and substance use treatment and access to healthy food are also vital to helping people living with HIV achieve stable lives.  The Chicago patient’s HIV cure and the others reported since 2008 are incredibly inspiring despite their rarity.  But proven interventions like PrEP, HIV treatment medications, and supportive services also inspire hope, and deserve our enthusiastic support.

Finally, this case shows the vital role that long-term medical research plays in improving the lives of ordinary Americans and people living with HIV. These scientific discoveries  drive much of the science behind HIV.  Sustained and stable federal funding is vital to support research to yield an eventual widely available HIV cure or vaccine. We at AFC remain hopeful for, and continue to work toward, a world where there are no new HIV cases, and people living with HIV will thrive.
 
Read the full Poz Magazine article here and an excerpt below: Two More People May Be Cured of HIV After Stem Cell Transplants - POZ

[Snippet]

The Chicago Patient

Paul Rubinstein, MD, of the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center, presented the first case, which involves a 67-year-old man who had been living with HIV for 14 years when he was diagnosed with AML. He underwent reduced-intensity conditioning therapy followed by a stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor with the double CCR5-delta32 mutation. A year later, his plasma viral load, HIV RNA and DNA in peripheral blood cells and HIV-specific CD4 and CD8 T-cell responses were undetectable and his HIV antibody levels were low, so he stopped antiretrovirals 15 months after the transplant.

The man’s plasma viral load rebounded to nearly 800 copies after about two months, and he restarted treatment with Biktarvy (bictegravir/tenofovir alafenamide/emtricitabine). Despite the rebound, HIV RNA and DNA remained undetectable in blood cells derived from the donor, and HIV-specific T-cell responses and antibody levels did not increase. This suggests that the resurgent virus came from a residual reservoir of cells infected prior to the transplant, but his new cells “truly were protected,” according to Rubinstein.

After nearly two years back on ART, the man tried a second treatment interruption, and he remains in remission 10 months later. This is the first known case of sustained remission after viral rebound during an initial treatment interruption following a stem cell transplant, indicating that early rebound does not rule out the possibility of a functional cure, the researchers concluded.

This case “demonstrates how profoundly difficult it is to get rid of the reservoir” and “shows how protective these CCR5-delta32 cells are,” Rubinstein told reporters. “If virus rebounds, remission is still possible.”