HIV researchers in Melbourne have shared they’ve made a big breakthrough in tackling latent HIV in cells.
The research was published in the journal Nature Communications and outlines how the team at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity have successfully developed a technique that exposes the last remaining HIV cells that stay in certain white blood cells.
The technique is based on mRNA technology. Messenger RNA (mRNA) is a natural molecule found in all living cells. It acts as a set of instructions, carrying genetic information from DNA in the cell’s nucleus to the cell’s protein-making machinery – ribosomes. The technology came to prominence in the development of Covid-19 vaccines.
One of the big challenges is tackling HIV has been the ability to virus has to remain in certain white blood cells, an area where it is immune from medications and the bodies natural defenses.
It means that the virus can be reactivated within a person, because a reservoir of HIV remains. But scientists have now worked out how they can deliver mRNA into the required cells by encasing it in a specially formulated fat bubble.
Dr Paula Cevaal, research fellow at the Doherty Institute, said it was previously thought impossible to deliver this kind of treatment, because the cells would not take up the necissary fat bubbles
The researchers found success by developing a new type of lipid nanoparticle that the cells would accept.
“Our hope is that this new nanoparticle design could be a new pathway to an HIV cure.” Dr Cevaal said.
At first researchers thought they’re results were too good to be true, but they’ve now repeated their successful experiment many times. The next stage of research will be looking at if the bodies natural defenses will be able to attack the HIV cells once they’ve been revealed, or if an additional medial process is needed.
While it is a major break through, Dr Cevaal has outlined the process for developing a treatment via this pathway will be a long one that will require many different tests before it could progress.
“In the field of biomedicine, many things eventually don’t make it into the clinic – that is the unfortunate truth; I don’t want to paint a prettier picture than what is the reality,” stressed Cevaal when she spoke to The Guardian. “But in terms of specifically the field of HIV cure, we have never seen anything close to as good as what we are seeing, in terms of how well we are able to reveal this virus.
“So from that point of view, we’re very hopeful that we are also able to see this type of response in an animal, and that we could eventually do this in humans.”
The medical breakthrough could also have a significant effect on other fields of medical research including cancer treatments.
