http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/259743/stem-cell-study-benefit-hiv-fight-expert

Medical experts are seeing a future in the use of stem cells to fight HIV and avert its damaging effects against the immune system.

Although testing on its viability is unavailable locally, Filipino stem cell expert, Dr. Samuel Bernal, consultant and director of the regenerative medicine section of the Medical City sees a potential in this new medical technology.

“There is a potential in the future because HIV is a viral infection that attacks the immune cells. So it is a cellular problem and the immune cells having been attacked, cannot be treated. There are no known drugs that can restore the immune cells. You can use drugs to control the virus but not treat it,” Bernal said.

“Even if you use drugs to control the virus, the problem is the immune cells are still damaged so one potential option in the future is to be able to engineer the immune cells to be resistant to virus,” Bernal said.

Bernal said achieving a reliable system in using stem cells to combat HIV lies in the challenge of engineering cells to be resistant to the virus and returning these cells to the body in such a way that the engineered cells do not cause problems to the body.

Molecular Biologists in the Medical City extract stem cells not only from the umbilical cord but also from the umbilical cord vein, umbilical artery, from the cord substance itself, from the placenta, from the gland inside the placenta and from the membrane surrounding the placenta.

Bernal said the umbilical cord blood is only one source of stem cell that can be used for blood disorders including leukemia and immune disease. But he said stem cell extraction is not limited to the cord blood because in regenerating other organs such as the heart, stem cell from other sources are needed.

But the expert admits that it may take a long time before the stem cell technology can actually become the standard treatment or cure for people living with HIV.

“There are many targeted molecules but it may take a long time before they can be applied to patients,” he said.

In the Medical City, there are a few HIV patients who are receiving treatment for cancer.

The expert recommends a combination of immune cell therapy and chemotherapy because in most cases, he said, chemotherapy, radiation and surgery are not enough to control the cancer.

May 30, 2010 (Manila Bulletin)