In most developed countries, the use of stem cells is fast becoming essential in treating or preventing diseases and conditions. Online sources define stem cell therapy as the use of stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition. It is used in growing cells in laboratories to replace damaged organs or tissues, correcting parts of organs that do not work properly, testing new drugs for safety and effectiveness, research causes of genetic defects in cells, and also in researching how diseases occur or why certain cells develop into cancer.
Although stem-cell therapy has become controversial following developments such as the ability of scientists to isolate and culture embryonic stem cells, to create stem cells using somatic cell nuclear transfer and their use of techniques to create induced pluripotent stem cells.
This controversy is often related to abortion politics and to human cloning. Additionally, efforts to market treatments based on transplants of stored umbilical cord blood have been controversial. However, research is underway to develop various sources for stem cells as well as to apply stem-cell treatments for neurodegenerative diseases and conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. Currently, the only established therapy using stem cells is hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. This usually takes the form of bone-marrow transplantation, but the cells can also be derived from umbilical cord blood.
Interestingly, stem cell therapy seems to have brought hope to people living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, as major medical advancement was made recently, using stem cell transplantation.
On Tuesday, February 15, a middle-aged woman of mixed race was announced at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Denver, United States of America, to have been cured of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, after receiving a stem cell transplant from a donor who was naturally resistant to the HIV that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Virus.
The patient with leukaemia became the first woman and the third person recorded to ever be cured of the virus. This case is also the first involving umbilical cord blood, a newer approach that may make the treatment available to more people. Since receiving the cord blood to treat her acute myeloid leukaemia – cancer that starts in blood-forming cells in the bone marrow – the woman has been in remission and free of the virus for 14 months, without the need for potent HIV treatments known as antiretroviral therapy.
The case is part of a larger US-backed study led by Dr Yvonne Bryson of the University of California Los Angeles, and Dr Deborah Persaud of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. It aims to follow 25 people with HIV who undergo a transplant with stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood for the treatment of cancer and other serious conditions.
Patients in the trial first undergo chemotherapy to kill cancerous immune cells. Doctors then transplant stem cells from individuals with a specific genetic mutation in which they lack receptors used by the virus to infect cells. Scientists believe that these individuals then develop an immune system resistant to HIV.
The study suggests that an important element to the success is the transplantation of HIV-resistant cells. Previously, scientists believed that a common stem cell transplant side effect called graft-versus-host disease, in which the donor immune system attacks the recipient’s immune system, played a role in a possible cure.
Announcing this breakthrough recently, President-Elect of the International AIDS Society, Sharon Lewin, said that the report confirmed that a cure for HIV was possible and strengthened with the gene therapy as a viable strategy for an HIV cure.
She said, “This is now the third report of a cure in this setting and the first in a woman living with HIV. Taken together, these three cases of a cure post-stem cell transplant all help in teasing out the various components of the transplant that were absolutely key to a cure.”
She, however, stated that bone marrow transplants were not as a viable strategy to cure most people living with HIV.
Commenting on the development, a Professor of Medical Virology/Microbiology at the College of Medical Sciences, University of Maiduguri, Borno State, Marycelin Baba, said that there was a possibility that the transplantation of stem cells from a donor who was naturally resistant to HIV into an HIV patient could cure the patient of the virus over time.
She added that the process could be replicated in Nigeria considering the fact that medical personnel got trained in the field of stem cell transplant coupled with the availability of facilities suitable for such.
Baba said, “All immune cells in the human body emanate from stem cells. Stem cell is an important component of the human body because all immune cells are generated from stem cells in the bone marrow; and they become different types of white blood cells; The neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, mast cells, monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, natural killer cells, and lymphocytes (B cells and T cells), are all products of the stem cell. HIV is so deadly and delicate to the human body because it affects the immune cells that protect the body from diseases, pathogens or any other foreign organisms. The immune cells are the military agents of the body, and HIV targets the blood cell that generates them, so once it is crippled, the body becomes defenceless, and the HIV further metamorphoses into AIDS because the body acquires it due to the deficiency of the immune system. Hence, if a patient living with HIV gets enough stem cell transplants from a person who is naturally resistant to the virus, there is a possibility that the patient could be cured of the virus over time. This is a scientific process. If it were an unscientific one I would have doubts.’’
She noted that there were qualified and competent human resources in Nigeria such as surgeons and neurologists, adding all that was required to achieve such a feat would be special training in stem cell transplant.
Baba stated, “With the right equipment, they would achieve so much. Medical experts in the field from the United States of America could be brought into the country to train our medical personnel, especially as it relates to the required skills and not just the theoretical aspect. However, if this recent discovery becomes a norm, it’ll be quite expensive and there’ll be a need for the government and philanthropists to intervene financially to rid the world of the deadly virus. This recent discovery is a stepping stone to curing other viruses i.e hepatitis A, B, and C, and even cancer.’’
On his part, a Professor of Medicine at the College of Medical Sciences, University of Maiduguri, Borno State, Haruna Yusuf, said that the affordability of stem cell therapy would be a major issue for most Nigerians living with HIV.
He said there are not enough hospitals in Nigeria where stem cell therapy could be carried out on patients.
Yusuf stated, “The last time I checked, there was only one centre in Nigeria where stem-cell therapy could be administered, and the number of HIV patients in Nigeria surpasses the manpower and facility that would be used in treating people.’’
He further said that stem-cell therapy was not new in the medical world, adding that it had been used to treat and cure different kinds of illnesses.
He said, “Stem-cell therapy is not new in the medical industry. Stem cell has been used in treating and curing people with almost 100 per cent success, but the problem with it for many people is its affordability. Stem-cell therapy could be used to cure other medical issues if it could be used to cure someone living with HIV. But it is not something that could be offered to everyone, especially considering the fact that there are few people who are naturally resistant to HIV. Stem-cell therapy is only used in isolated cases, majorly for uncommon ailments.’’
The professor of medicine also said that only one per cent of Caucasians were naturally-resistant to HIV, adding that there was no record of the percentage of black people naturally resistant to the virus.
Besides, a Molecular Virologist at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Mr Shaibu Joseph, said that the institute was still studying the report and that several factors needed to be studied as they related to the issue.
He said, “We’re still studying the report because for events such as this we need to take our time to study the circumstances relating to it.”
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