Heart transplanted infants better model for developing AIDS treatment

Heart transplanted infants immune system may act as a model for developing better treatment options to patients with AIDS, cancer and other immune disorders. Professor Jeffrey Plat, Mayo Clinic is to lead a team of researchers which has got a NIH funding of $ 6 million and the research team would be studying the immune system of thymus removed heart transplanted infants. The research team found that these infants had their thymus removed and though there T-cell count is very low comparable to T-cell count of AIDS patients still these infants resisted most of the infection that often kill adult AIDS patients.

The results of the new study are to be published in the Journal of Immunology which would bring new insights on the immune system of humans. The researchers in their study followed up infants who had their thymus removed during heart transplants and the researchers followed the disease status of these infants for 10 years after their heart transplants. The new highly funded research can bring the protective effect of human body's natural compensating system which fights against disease in the absence of an immune response.