High Hopes for AIDS Patients: Stem Cells Turned into T-Cells

Experts at the University of California, Los Angeles, announced that they are working on a scientific project that may become a medical breakthrough: finding a way to transform stem cells into T cells also called immune cells, which are highly important in preventing and curing AIDS and other severe illnesses that are related to immune system damaging.

Many studies that involved stem cells have been carried out in recent years, because these particular cells have the ability to turn themselves into a variety of other cell types of the body, under certain conditions. This took medical experts to start studying how they can make stem cells transform into other types of cells that are damaged in one's body. In this way, the damaged cells that lead to serious illnesses in people could be replaced by healthy ones and the disease treated.

Following the same idea, the scientists at UCLA studied how blood-forming stem cells behave when injected into a human thymus that was implanted into a mouse's organism. Results were very satisfying, as the human thymus in the mouse converted the stem cells into T-cells.

Also, the team involved in the research suggested that a way of implementing a specific curing gene into stem cells may be developed in the future. The gene introduced in the stem cells will help treating ill organs in the body through gene therapy.

However, the research is still not finished and needs further studies. It "is not ready for prime time," said co-author of the study, Dr. Jerome Zack, professor of medicine at UCLA. He also warned that developing the new method of ameliorating problems of immune system might take several years, still "the potential is huge. We have to see if it lives up to that potential."

Photo credit: www.scienceinpublic.com.