Cord Blood May Help With HIV Treatment

In Texas, researchers at the MD Anderson Cancer Centre, are searching for ways to use stem cells in the treatment of HIV. By screening banked cord blood, doctors are hoping to find cells that are resistant to the virus to serve as a drug-free treatment option for the disease.

This research project comes just months after doctors in Berlin claimed an HIV-positive patient was cured with a stem cell transplant. In 2007, Timothy Ray Brown was underwent a bone marrow stem cell transplant as part of his treatment for leukemia. In December of 2010, Brown’s doctors revealed in a study that his HIV was cured by the transplant that was meant for his leukemia.

There is medication available to those who currently suffer from the disease, providing a second chance at life for HIV and AIDS patients who would have died without them. However, as patients begin to live longer on these medications, the side effects begin to create other major health concerns.

The newly-proposed stem cell treatment for HIV would provide a drug-free solution for those suffering with the disease, but common usage of this method seems to be far off. While critics have noted the risks and dangers involved in carrying out stem cell transplants, the Anderson Cancer Centre continues to push forward with its search for a drug-free treatment for HIV and AIDS.