UCLA researchers have discovered that stem cells can be engineered to kill HIV as the equivalent of a genetic vaccine! Scott Kitchen, assistant professor of medicine in the division of hematology and oncology, explains:

"We have demonstrated in this proof-of-principle study that this type of approach can be used to engineer the human immune system, particularly the T-cell response, to specifically target HIV-infected cells.

These studies lay the foundation for further therapeutic development that involves restoring damaged or defective immune responses toward a variety of viruses that cause chronic disease, or even different types of tumors."