Interesting Data presented at International Aids Conference 2016

https://www.buzzfeed.com/azeenghorayshi/repeating-the-berlin-patient?utm_term=.aodGGEgvq#.fiObbNGnj

(snip)
Some of the patients received transplants with the mutation, and others did not. By comparing these two groups, the researchers wanted to see whether Brown’s cure was the result of the CCR5 mutation, or of simply getting infused with foreign cells. (Bone marrow transplants often come with “graft-versus-host disease,” which kills off the body’s native cells and, some speculate, could be involved in wiping out HIV.)
The trial’s initial results are encouraging, Wensing said, though it’s still unclear whether the results are due to the CCR5-altered cells, the bone marrow transplant itself, or the standard antiretroviral medications.
Of the three individuals who have made it three years since their transplants, two received normal bone marrow cells and one received the HIV-resistant type. One of the individuals who received the normal type cells luckily avoided graft-versus-host disease. The other two — one of whom had HIV-resistant cells, and one of whom didn’t — did experience graft-versus-host. Both of these individuals now have undetectable levels of their own immune cells in their blood, but also have undetectable levels of HIV. The other patient has low levels of their own immune cells and HIV still detectable in their blood.
It will take some work to determine how the various factors are at play, but Wensing says the worst is over since the three patients are healthy and cancer-free. The next step will be deciding whether the patients will go off their antiretroviral medications, to see whether the bone marrow transplants were solely responsible for eradicating their HIV.
The researchers did not present any results from the other three patients in the trial, who got their transplants less than three years ago.