Our friends at Americans for Cures and Youreka Science have done it again. They’ve produced another whiteboard video about the progress and promise of stem cell research that’s so inspiring that it would probably make Darth Vader consider coming back to the light side. This time they tackled HIV.

If you haven’t watched one of these videos already, let me bring you up to speed. Americans for Cures is a non-profit organization, the legacy of the passing of Proposition 71, that supports patient advocates in the fight for stem cell research and cures. They’ve partnered with Youreka Science to produce eye-catching and informative videos to teach patients and the general public about the current state of stem cell research and the quest for cures for major diseases.

Stem cell cure for HIV?

Their latest video is on HIV, a well-known and deadly virus that attacks and disables the human immune system. Currently, 37 million people globally are living with HIV and only a few have been cured.

The video begins with the story of Timothy Brown, also known as the Berlin patient. In 2008 at the age of 40, he was dying of a blood cancer called acute myeloid leukemia and needed a bone marrow stem cell transplant to survive. Timothy was also HIV positive, so his doctor decided to use a bone marrow donor who happened to be naturally resistant to HIV infection. The transplanted donor stem cells were not only successful in curing Timothy of his cancer, but they also “rebooted his immune system” and cured his HIV.

So why haven’t all HIV patients received this treatment? The video goes on to explain that bone marrow transplants are dangerous and only used in cancer patients who’ve run out of options. Additionally, only a small percentage of the world’s population is resistant to HIV and the chances that one of these individuals is a bone marrow donor match to a patient is very low.

This is where science comes to the rescue. Three research groups in California, all currently supported by CIRM funding, have proposed alternative solutions: they are attempting to make a patient’s own immune system resistant to HIV instead of relying on donor stem cells. Using gene therapy, they are modifying blood stem cells from HIV patients to be HIV resistant, and then transplanting the modified stem cells back into the same patient to rebuild a new immune system that can block HIV infection.

All three groups have proven their stem cell technology works in animals; two of them are now testing their approach in early phase clinical trials in humans, and one is getting ready to do so. If these trials are successful, there is good reason to hope for an HIV cure and maybe even cures for other immune diseases.

My thoughts…

What I liked most about this video was the very end. It concludes by saying that these accomplishments were made possible not just by funding promising scientific research, but also by the hard work of HIV patients and patient advocate communities, who’ve brought awareness to the disease and influenced policy changes. Ultimately, a cure for HIV will depend on researchers and patient advocates working together to push the pace and to tackle any obstacles that will likely appear with testing stem cell therapies in human clinical trials.

I couldn’t say it any better than the final line of the video:

“We must remember that human trials will celebrate successes, but barriers will surface along with complications and challenges. So patience and understanding of the scientific process are essential.”