Analysis: What the Andrew Stimpson case means for the fight against AIDS

Okay, taking one look at my site meter has told me that the case of Andrew Stimpson, the British man who has seemingly fought off HIV, is getting a LOT of attention, so let me take a few minutes to address what it means for people with AIDS or at risk of contracting HIV.

First of all, we don't yet know if there really is anything special about Mr. Stimpson. He may simply be a lucky guy with a healthy immune system that was able to do its job when push came to shove. He took vitamin supplements, a strategy proven to help keep the body healthy against HIV for a longer period of time compared to not taking vitamins. If this was going to happen with anyone, it would most likely be someone like Andrew Stimpson.

Nevertheless, the fact that this has never happened to anyone else before is a pretty good indicator that something else is at work, but what? We already know that around 10% of Europeans are sometimes genetic carriers of the CCR5 delta 32 protien, which is known to convey some resistance to HIV. If Mr. Stimpson is one of these carriers (or better yet, carried 2 CCR5 delta 32 alleles), it gives us some reason to believe he had a rare level of resistance, which, combined with good health, might have enabled his body to do what millions of others could not, and defeat HIV in vivo.

But we are still faced with the reality that, there are many thousands of individuals with HIV and the CCR5 delta 32 gene, and while by and large they have better outcomes than other people, none of them has rid themselves of HIV. So what else might be at work here? We certainly could be seeing the effects of an as-yet undiscovered gene, possessed by Mr. Stimpson, that has conveyed him with an immune system that is more robust against HIV. This is the prospect that excites me. If researchers can identify what is different about Andrew Stimpson that has allowed him to do what nobody else could, it opens the door to medicines that may be able to reproduce his good fortune for others.

Please understand that the above scenario is a long shot. Even if Mr. Stimpson has a unique genetic advantage against HIV, it's going to require a lot of time and study to figure out what exactly that is. Once it has been identified, it may take years for a drug to be formulated, tested, and released. Even then, the drug may only work to varying degrees. If Andrew Stimpson is our salvation against AIDS, we won't know it for many years to come. So far Stimpson has agreed to undergo further testing which is the vital first step on the road to developing new medications against HIV/AIDS.

Unfortunately for people who are right now living with HIV and AIDS, this case really only offers the same glimmer of future hope and promise that has been talked about since scientists first started looking for an AIDS vaccine twenty years ago. Still, I think it underscores several things people with AIDS should do, namely, talk to your doctor about taking vitamin supplements, and if your viral load test keeps coming back undetectable consider getting re-tested for HIV. We only know about Andrew Stimpson because he took a second HIV test. There may be more people like him out there who have shaken HIV but who don't know it because they have not yet been retested. World AIDS Day is coming up on December 1st, so testing will be free and widely available. If we discover others with the same ability as Mr. Stimpson, it can only bring us closer to creating new medicines to help those who aren't as lucky as he is.

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