Researchers report third case of HIV remission after stem cell transplant using umbilical cord blood

A US woman has become the third known person who's gone into HIV remission, and the first mixed-race woman, thanks to a transplant of stem cells from umbilical cord blood, according to research presented at a conference Tuesday.

The woman, whom the researchers described as middle-aged and of mixed race, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia four years after an HIV diagnosis, according to an abstract from the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.

After the leukemia diagnosis, she received high-dose chemotherapy that destroyed her blood cells. Later, she got a transplant of stem cells from an adult family member to replenish her own blood cell levels. This served as a bridge to maintain her blood cells while she received stem cells through umbilical cord blood from an unrelated newborn, which can take up to a month to start producing cells. The cord blood had a mutation that makes cells resistant to HIV infection.