FIRST WOMAN REPORTED CURED OF HIV AFTER STEM CELL TRANSPLANT

Why in news?

• A US patient became the first woman and the third person to date to be cured of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) after receiving a SCT from a donor who was naturally resistant to virus that causes AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).
  • HIV is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system.If HIV is not treated, it can lead to AIDS.

About Stem Cell Transplant

• Stem Cell Transplant SCT, also called bone marrow transplant, is a procedure in which a patient receives healthy stem cells to replace damaged stem cells.
• Types of SCT
  • Autologous transplantation uses the patient’s own stem cells. These cells are removed, treated and returned to his or her own body after a conditioning regimen.
  • Allogeneic transplantation where stem cells come from another person, called a donor.
• Stem cells are special human cells that are able to develop into many different cell types such as muscle cells, blood cells, and brain cells.
  • They are unspecialized, so they cannot do specific functions in the boay.
  • Three main types of stem cells:
  • Embryonic stem cells (supply new cells for an embryo as it grows and develops into a baby);
  • Adult stem cells (supply new cells as an organism grows and to replace cells that get damaged);
  • Induced pluripotent stem cells, or IPS cells’ (stem cells that scientists make in laboratory).