HIV and Stem Cells (New Therapy?)

[Ladeira]

While making my Biology Seminar about Stem Cells, I've found something very interesting about the differentiation of stem cells in T-Cells, which could mean a new treatment to the immune system of people with HIV virus.

 

I thought it very interesting, as you can check on those articles below:

 

Embryonic stem cells make human T cellsHeather E. Fleming, and David T. Scadden

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/103/33/12213

 

 

From the Cover: T lineage differentiation from human embryonic stem cells

Zoran Galic, Scott G. Kitchen, Amelia Kacena, Aparna Subramanian, Bryan Burke, Ruth Cortado, and Jerome A. Zack

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/103/31/11742

 

Source: Me (it's also in my own blog)

http://lostnerdz.blogspot.com

[Mr Skeptic]

So if you add enough replacements for the cells destroyed by HIV you might prevent it from developing into AIDS, correct?

[Psycho]

So if you add enough replacements for the cells destroyed by HIV you might prevent it from developing into AIDS, correct?

Yes, that is correct however developing enough of those cells from a specific person constantly would be excruciatingly expensive as well as not even solving the problem.

 

Then of course there is the fact that you would most likely need to use an exponential amount of cells each time as each cell infected would create more than one virus so adding more cells would just create an increased amount of viruses that could infect faster.

[Ladeira]

So, there is a contradiction.

 

There are who think, like Mr Skeptic, that the HIV virus would keep in crontrol (not trepassing a limit). And there are who think it would just give more cells to be infected.

 

But we have to remember that the HIV virus usually create a store of viruses in the brain. So, I think it would be difficult to control situations like AIDS Dementia Complex even if using stem cells.

 

But, of course, it would be just an amazing research which could of course mean a new therapy associated to others already available.