Stem cells treatment for HIV

Introduction: HIV infects specific types of cells in the immune system. For infecting the cells this virus must bind to a specific receptor on the cell’s surface. Our bodies produce new immune cells every day from stem cell reservoirs in bone marrow and these cells play a specific role in curing bacterial and viral infections.Description: One area of research for HIV is to look at how stem cell therapies might help. Scientists found that a stem cell therapy could effectively arm the immune system with a special defense against HIV. It is also hoped that it can improve their life expectancy, particularly when antiviral drugs are not successful anymore.Discussion and conclusion: it is possible to derive patient-specific stem cells from HIV-infected individuals, differentiate them into bone marrow stem cells, and knock-out the CCR5 protein, rendering them resistant to HIV infection and these cells are available for transplant into the HIV infected individual. The new cells are so non-sensitive to HIV infection and would replace the individual’s HIV infected cells.

کلیدواژه ها:

stem cells ، HIV