It has recently been reported that a 51 year old from France has been treated for lung cancer with signs of improvement to his HIV prognosis.

In an unexpected turn of events a massive improvement was noted regarding the reservoirs of cells where HIV hides and becomes untreatable with standard treatments.

Nivolumab

The 51 year old was treated with the immunotherapy drug nivolumab (Opdivo). It is believed the rejuvenated immune cells might have been responsible for killing the HIV-infected cells.

More research into this is underway.

This is the first case of a massive decrease in dormant HIV-infected cells however it is not the first case in testing.

Another case was run with no signs of improvement in the cell reservoirs.

With over 37 million people worldwide infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, there is no doubt this news will come as a relief to many families.

Urgent investigation

Experts have hailed this case as exciting and are calling for urgent investigation.

Others are concerned that as standard treatments are stopped the virus will replicate and infect more cells leaving patients too weak to fight back. Causing more deaths.

Back in 2007 a Man was cured of HIV after receiving a bone marrow transplant while being treated for leukaemia.

However every attempt to replicate this miracle cure resulted in life changing effects and even the death of one candidate.

Performing or “testing “the French patient’s treatment on others is unlikely to cause death however it should be treated with much caution.

We are looking forward to and are cautiously optimistic on reporting the outcome of any investigations and further developments on this news.