The 'Berlin patient' is an HIV-positive man who developed acute myeloid leukaemia, received successful treatment and subsequently experienced a relapse in 2007 that required a transplant of stem cells. Antiretroviral therapy was halted on the day of the transplant, and the patient had to receive a second stem cell transplant 13 days after the first one, due to a further relapse of leukaemia.
– In another potentially big break in the treatment of AIDS, scientists believe that an HIV-positive man has been cured by a stem cell transplant, the Huffington Post reports. Timothy Ray Brown, often referred to as the "Berlin Patient," underwent both stem-cell therapy alongside conventional chemotherapy for leukemia—not his HIV infection. But three years later, researchers say that test results "strongly suggest that cure of HIV infection has been achieved." The stem cell donor just happened to have a natural resistance to HIV infection, explains AIDSmap.com. "If a cure has been achieved in this patient, it points the way towards attempts to develop a cure for HIV infection through genetically engineered stem cells," writes Keith Alcorn.