Timothy Ray Brown dies of leukemia, affecting millions of people living with HIV

Timothy Ray Brown from Seattle became world-famous when he revealed his identity as the first person to be treated for HIV / AIDS in 2010 after a cancer recurrence at his home in California on Tuesday. died. He was 54 years old.

“He was a symbol of hope for many people living with HIV and an inspiration for us working on treatment,” said a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Dr. Keith JeromeThrough the genetic engineering of immune cells, he came to know Brown in the course of his ongoing research to recreate that treatment for others.

Ironically, in 2007, a bid to stop Brown’s cancer, which led to the transplantation of blood-forming stem cells, also cured HIV. He has lived with the virus in Berlin since he was a college student in 1995. Until he announced his identity in 2010, Brown was known only to the world as a “patient in Berlin”.

Brown had two consecutive transplants needed to stop acute myeloid leukemia, the second almost dead, but with a mutation known to confer natural tolerance to HIV. Received stem cells from a donor. He stopped taking antiretroviral drugs shortly before his first transplant on February 6, 2007, and was virus-free when he died. He often called the transplant date his “newborn day.” Celebrated in Seattle By members of defeatHIV, Hatch-based HIV treatment research group.

Brown’s success has influenced HIV treatment research

Fred Hatchin Transplant Doctor as co-founder of defeatHIV Dr. Hans Peter KiemThe owners of the Stefanus family donation chairs for cell and gene therapy have also come to know and respect Brown. He admits that he has spurred research on HIV treatment research funded by the National Institutes of Health. Martin de Lani Collaboration Program..

“It’s thanks to Timothy that NIH started this HIV treatment effort 10 years ago. It’s incredible how many people he helped directly or indirectly,” Kiem said. It was.

In November Kiemu delivers TEDx talk In Seattle, Timothy Ray Brown explains how he influenced his work to find a cure for HIV through the final offer of “gene therapy with a syringe.”

Despite many efforts to recreate Brown’s cure, he remained the only person on the planet known to have defeated the virus for twelve years. His ardent desire was that he didn’t want to be alone.

And on March 4, 2019, “Patients in London” were considered likely to have been cured Through a similar stem cell transplant.he Reveal your identity A year later, as Adam Castigejo, a 40-year-old immigrant from Venezuela who worked as a sous-chef in London. He had a single stem cell transplant in 2016.

Brown was talking to Castigejo on the phone, but the two had never met in person.

A small circle of people who have been cured of HIV

Joining Brown in this elite circle of people who are believed to have healed Lauren WillenbergA 66-year-old California woman is believed to have first cleared the virus without a transplant or drug. After being tested positive in 1992, she is one of a group of 64 so-called elite controllers. Register for research A person who appears to have the genetic ability to sequester or suppress the virus. She does not independently show evidence of HIV using the most powerful gene probing techniques. Scientists want to know why.

“For some reason, my immune system provided clues as to what could be done in the fight against HIV infection,” said Willenberg, who learned of the news of Brown’s death. “The discovery that I isolated the virus in a kind of genetic” prison “is a testament to the researcher’s dedication to unraveling the mystery of voluntary control.

“I met Timothy in San Francisco 10 years ago. Despite the obvious weaknesses from the fight against transplantation, I was immediately impressed with his gentle nature and humility. Before him. It was an honor to be there. “

The combination of antiretroviral drugs put Brown’s HIV under control, 25 million others With treatments around the world, he had to take medicine daily. Otherwise the virus rebounded. A more pressing threat to his life was the diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia in 2006.

His German oncologist, Dr. Gero HütterConcluded that only bone marrow transplants could stop his aggressive cancer, but he suggested Brown a radical option: a donor with a rare mutation that confers resistance to HIV. If he can find matching blood stem cells from, he may be cured of HIV and his leukemia.