About 41 million people worldwide are living with HIV, and all of them require lifelong treatment—at least to date. The goal of the new Berlin Center for HIV Cure (BeCURE) at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin is to transform HIV infections from treatable conditions into curable ones. The center was officially inaugurated yesterday in the presence of Dr. Ina Czyborra, Berlin’s Senator for Research and Chair of the Charité Supervisory Board, and Thomas Kahlert. The latter is the individual previously referred to anonymously as the “Second Berlin Patient”—that is, the second person to be cured of HIV at Charité. Yesterday marked the eleventh anniversary of the stem cell transplant that resulted in curing his condition.
HIV infections can be effectively treated today. Thanks to modern therapy, people living with HIV can lead largely normal lives and no longer transmit the virus. It remains hidden in the body's immune cells, however, throughout a person's life and flares up as soon as treatment is discontinued—and with fatal consequences if no action is taken. In addition, even with good therapeutic support, the persons affected are at higher risk for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases and are still frequently subjected to stigma.
“We want to fundamentally improve the outlook for people living with HIV,” says Prof. Christian Gaebler. He is conducting research on the virus with his research groups at the Department of Infectious Diseases and Critical Care Medicine and the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH), and is heading up the new center. "Our goal at BeCURE is to make an HIV cure or long-term remission a genuine treatment option." Remission refers to a state in which the body keeps the virus in check without the aid of medication. Unlike a cure, in which the virus is completely eliminated from the body, the virus is still detectable during remissions.
Research field on HIV cure established at Charité and now being expanded
Charité demonstrated as early as 2008 that HIV infections can be cured. In the course of a stem cell transplant to treat leukemia, Timothy Ray Brown was successfully cured of his concurrent HIV infection. He went down in medical history as the first person in the world to be cured of HIV—initially known as the “Berlin Patient”—and laid the groundwork for research into a cure for HIV. In 2024, Charité presented the "Second Berlin Patient," another case of a HIV cure at the Universitätsmedizin Berlin.
“To date, only 13 people worldwide are considered to have been cured of HIV,” emphasizes Prof. Joachim Spranger, Charité Dean. “The fact that this extraordinary achievement has been accomplished twice at Charité not only underscores the exceptional expertise at our institution, but also our determination to advance this significant field of research. With BeCURE, we aim to further expand our commitment in this area and pursue the explicit goal of enabling people with HIV or other chronic viral infections to lead healthy lives without medication in the future."
Ina Czyborra, Berlin’s Senator for Higher Education and Research, Health, and Long-Term Care, and Chair of the Charité Supervisory Board, says: “Nearly twenty years ago, the first person was cured of HIV at Charité. This achievement clearly shows what medical progress can accomplish when it reaches patients directly. The new field of research it helped establish now has a permanent home in BeCURE. Here, excellent research is carried out for people, and with that ambition, we are turning Berlin into a world-leading hub for health research.”
Learning from HIV Cures
In the 13 cases of HIV cures reported so far, the success was attributed to a stem cell transplant, in which the HIV-infected immune system is replaced with that of a donor. The procedure entails significant risks and is resorted to only in life-threatening conditions—such as leukemia. “We want to find ways to eliminate the virus from the body or keep it permanently in check without resorting to a risky stem cell transplant, so that this treatment approach is suitable for as many patients as possible,” as BeCURE Director Christian Gaebler emphasizes.
To this end, the researchers are drawing on the knowledge they have gained from successful HIV cures—particularly that of the Second Berlin Patient, Thomas Kahlert. His case has shown that, contrary to previous assumptions, the transplanted immune system does not have to be HIV-resistant to enable a cure. “Our analyses suggest that Thomas Kahlert’s new immune system itself cleared out the virus’s hiding places,” explains Christian Gaebler. "Antibodies appear to have played a vital role by tagging HIV-infected cells so that the immune system's killer cells could destroy them."
Key Focus: Antibody and immunotherapies, gene and cell therapies
The BeCURE team intends to make targeted use of such mechanisms. The research focuses on modern antibody, immune, cell, and gene therapies designed to eliminate or keep the virus in check; meanwhile, the first antibody studies are already underway. Because the findings from HIV cure research are also relevant to other chronic viral diseases, the team will also focus on hepatitis B. Approximately 240 million people worldwide live with this viral infection.
The center combines basic research with clinical studies and bundles interdisciplinary expertise from the departments of Infectious Diseases, Virology, Immunology, Hematology, Obstetrics, and Hepatology at Charité. The activities are supported by social science research, while the team also places particular importance on involving and integrating those affected. “We have established a Community Collaboration Board through which people living with HIV—or those who understand their needs—can help shape research,” emphasizes Christian Gaebler. "We also want to be a point of contact for patients in Berlin and the surrounding area who can gain access to the clinical trials involving new therapies through us."
The center is located in the “Der Simulierte Mensch” (Si-M) research building on the Charité Campus Virchow-Klinikum in Berlin-Wedding. This is also where the BeCURE study center is situated and where the clinical trials are conducted. In honor of the two Berlin patients who had a profound impact on this field of research, it was named the “Brown-Kahlert Clinical Research Unit” during yesterday’s BeCURE opening ceremony.