Scientists have found a breakthrough in the search for a cure for HIV, after research uncovered a development “previously thought impossible”.
HIV can ‘hide’ itself in white blood cells, meaning the immune system and treatment drugs are unable to find and tackle them.
This could potentially allow the immune system or drugs to identify the virus and clear it, meaning researchers are one step closer to a cure.
The mRNA then instructs the cells to reveal the virus.
She told the paper that the team initially thought the results were “too good to be true”, adding that they hoped the new nanoparticle design could be a “new pathway to an HIV cure”.
After research revealed a development “previously thought impossible,” scientists have made progress in their quest for an HIV cure.
White blood cells can “hide” HIV, making it impossible for the immune system and medication to detect and treat them.
The virus was hiding inside some human cells, but researchers at Melbourne’s Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity have now discovered a method to push it out.
Researchers are one step closer to a cure if this enables the immune system or medications to recognize the virus and eradicate it.
The Guardian was informed by Dr. Paula Cevaal, a research fellow at the Doherty Institute and co-first author of the study that was published in Nature Communications, that it was “previously thought impossible” to deliver mRNA to the cells because they did not absorb the LNPs that carried it.
However, a novel form of lipid nanoparticles (LNP) was later created by the team, enabling the delivery of mRNA technology to the blood cells. The cells are then told by the mRNA to expose the virus.
Although the team initially believed the results were “too good to be true,” she told the paper that they hoped the new nanoparticle design could be a “new pathway to an HIV cure.”.
“She returned the following week with equally good results after we sent her back into the lab to repeat it,” she said.
Thus, we had to accept it. Naturally, we’ve done it numerous times since then.
We were astounded by the drastic change in functionality—it had stopped working previously, and then it started working again. And we were all just sitting there, saying, “Wow.”. “.”.
“I don’t want to paint a prettier picture than the reality; that is the unfortunate truth in the field of biomedicine: many things eventually don’t make it into the clinic,” she continued.
However, when it comes to the field of HIV cure specifically, we have never witnessed anything nearly as good as what we are witnessing,” the statement reads.
Therefore, from that perspective, we’re really optimistic that we can observe this kind of reaction in animals as well and that we may eventually be able to do the same in people. “.”.
Cells donated by HIV patients were used in the study. To determine whether the actions taken to expose the virus will enable the body’s immune system to combat it, more research will now need to be conducted.
It will probably take years before the new discovery can be used in human trials due to additional safety testing.
