Question:

I teach STD classes to high school and middle school students for the Florida Department of Health and got an interesting question from one of the students yesterday. Is T-cell transplantation being studied at all as a possible cure? I am by no means an expert and wasn't sure how to answer this question. It seems that, since the virus targets the T-cells, even new ones added to the body would be at risk for attack and prove this process pointless. But, since the immune system would be compromised and the transplanted T-cells would be recognized by the body as "intruders", the immune system may not attack them.

Is there something I am overlooking here?
Please get back to me as soon as possible, as this class ends Friday. If for some reason no one can or has answered this by Friday, please send a response anyway.
Thank you for your time.

Answer provided by:

Daniel Lee, M. D.
Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine
UCSD Medical Center
Owen Clinic

This is an interesting question. I am by no means a specialist in T-cell transplantation or an immunologist, but transplanting T-cells does seem to make sense. There are problems, however, as you have pointed out. Transplanting new cells from someone else would likely be recognized as foreign and attacked by the immune system (even if someone has HIV and a relatively poor immune system). In addition, only specific T-cells which are "activated" by a variety of mechanisms (too lengthy to go into depth here) are useful in combating HIV. Thus, transplanting "naive" T-cells from someone else and activating them to fight HIV specifically, before they are destroyed by the person's immune system, is the challenge, I think. This is my best guess, but as I've said at the beginning, I am not an immunologist and you may want to consult one if you need a more sophisticated and perhaps more correct answer.
Thanks for your question.

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