Stem Cells to Fight HIV

A number of researches have been conducted to reduce the propagation of HIV in human body. One of the most recent and sought after research is the stem cells to fight HIV infected cells. Researchers have very tactfully engineered human blood stem cells that are capable of killing HIV infected cells.

This formula is not only applicable for HIV but also for other chronic viral diseases. It is a genetic vaccine, invented at the UCLA AIDS Institute. This research is still at its nascent stage, and the experiment has not yet been implemented on humans at a large scale yet. Rats are used to carry out all the practical requirements of this experiment, by taking a note about their anatomical reaction to the stem cells. Though, the researchers have also taken the help of some human samples too.

The concept:

The CD 8 cytotoxic T-lymphocytes cells, or the killer T-cells, play the most important role to fight the disease in human body. The researchers at the UCLA AIDS Institute took samples of these cells from HIV infected individuals. The T- Cell receptors were identified to be the molecules, that helped the T- cells in identifying the HIV infected cells in the human body and kill them. Though these cells are initially able to destroy the HIV infected cells, they cannot continue with this internal war for too long, as they are less in quantity in a normal human body.

Therefore, the idea behind stem cells to fight HIV, is, to artificially implant these stem cells on the tissues of the human thymus, so that its number could be artificially increased, conditioning the stem cells to fight HIV better. Inside the human body, these stem cells will be transformed into CD 8 cells, in huge numbers that can destroy the cells having the harmful HIV protein. These cells are multifunctional and HIV specific in nature.

The experiment has been quite successful on rats, and now the next big step was to implement it on the human body and measure the efficiency of stem cell to fight HIV. A bone marrow transplant, with stem cells was conducted on a HIV positive person, and that could reduce the level of HIV in his blood. However, it was also noticed that the procedure was very painful, tiring and infection prone. Another demerit of this research is that, it is prone to cross- contamination of samples.

However, it has several advantages too. First of all the main purpose of stem cell to fight HIV brings hope to several people, as it is would be the first non-medicinal method to fight the disease. It can prolong our lives in a better way. This process involves the use of stem cells from one’s own body. This reduces the chance of rejection of foreign cells that are prone to be incompatible with the patient’s body. It can completely uproot HIV from the blood, as the stem cells on a large scale can now overpower the HIV cells.