According to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, a stem cell transplant, from a donor carrying a rare gene variant known to defend against HIV, has completely eliminated all noticeable traces of the deadly disease in an AIDS patient with leukemia.

The stem cell benefactor was among the 1-3 percent of whites of European descent who have the gene mutation called CCR5 delta32; the variant gene lacks the section that helps the AIDS virus enter a cell.

The transplant, which the 42-year-old American patient living in Germany, received was essentially for eradicating a recurred leukemia in 2006. The patient was already being administered antiviral drugs for nearly a decade, ever since he was diagnosed of HIV infection. Surprisingly for the researchers, the transplant cured the patient of both the diseases!

Dr. Gero Hutter of Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin in Germany said: "The patient is fine. Today, two years after his transplantation, he is still without any signs of HIV disease and without antiretroviral medication."

The exceptional result of the experiment could lead researchers strengthen their search for similar therapies to control the AIDS virus HIV. Voicing the opinion in an editorial accompanying the study, AIDS researcher Jay Levy, of University of California, San Francisco, said: "I think this article is going to stimulate a lot of companies to put more emphasis on gene therapy." (Harkiran contributed to this report)