STEM CELL THERAPY

STEM CELL THERAPY

TOPIC: Science & Tech

Context- A US patient has become the third person in the world, and the first woman, to be cured of HIV, the deadly virus that causes AIDS using umbilical cord blood.

Concept-

Umbilical Cord Blood:

• The umbilical cord is a flexible, tube-like structure that, during pregnancy, connects the fetus to the mother.
• Umbilical cord blood is a rich source of stem cells, and preserving it for future use.
• It contains special cells called hematopoietic stem cells that can be used to treat some types of diseases.
• Hematopoietic stem cells can mature into different types of blood cells in the body.
  • Hematopoietic stem cells are derived from bone marrow, peripheral blood, or umbilical cord blood.

Stem Cell Therapy:

• Stem-cell therapy is the use of stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition.
• Stem cell therapy, also known as regenerative medicine, promotes the repair response of diseased, dysfunctional or injured tissue using stem cells or their derivatives.
• Stem cells can then be implanted into a person.

Stem Cells:

• Stem cells are the cells from which all other cells with specialized functions are generated.
• Under certain conditions in the body or a laboratory, stem cells divide to form more cells called daughter cells.
• These daughter cells either become new stem cells (self-renewal) or become specialized cells (differentiation) with a more specific function, such as blood cells, brain cells, heart muscle cells or bone cells.
• No other cell in the body has the natural ability to generate new cell types.

About HIV:

• HIV is a ribonucleic acid virus.
• HIV attacks CD4, a type of White Blood Cell (T cells) in the body’s immune system. T cells are those cells that move around the body detecting anomalies and infections in cells.
• HIV is transmitted from person to person through bodily fluids including blood, semen, vaginal secretions, anal fluids and breast milk.