HIV Treatment History Step: Virus has been made visible in the cell – Cyprus Newspaper

Scientists from the Institute of Peter Doherty infection and immune in Melbourne, Australia took a promising step to completely eliminate HIV in the human body.

Researchers have developed a new method to make HIV’s visible in white blood cells, which can be hidden from the immune system and drugs.

Virus with MRNA technology « awakened »

The foundation of the research is based on MRNA technology, known for its Covid-19 vaccines. Scientists have managed to reach MRNA, where they placed in the oil capsules (lipid nanoparticles), which they specifically formulated to the white blood cells where HIV was hiding. This MRNA sends a signal to the cells to release the virus.

In the study published in Nature Communications magazine, the new generation of Nanoparchalic design called “LNP X” was accepted by these cells. These cells did not take the previous generation nanoparticles, and the concealment of HIV was hiding here.

The joint author of the research. “It was impossible to deliver mRNA to these cells before. But now we have been all breathless in the face of our results, Pa said Paula Cevaal.

The next step: can the virus be destroyed when released?

This invention proved that HIV could be removed from the reservoir in which he stayed in the body “sleep”. But the next critical question is still waiting for an answer: can this virus be completely destroyed by the immune system or additional therapies?

The study was carried out on cells taken from HIV -positive individuals in the laboratory. In order to be tried in real patients, animal experiments, then safety and activity will have to be performed. It is stated that this process may last for years.

« An unprecedented progress »

Senior author of the research. Michael Roche said that this technique can be used not only in HIV but also in other diseases such as cancer. Retrovirologist from Francis Crick Institute. Jonathan Stoye, on the other hand, said that this method was “the biggest progress so far so far” in removing HIV from where it was hiding.

However, Stoye warned, « Is the whole reservoir to destroy this virus, or if most of them will be enough, ».

On the other hand, Prof. Dr. Oxford University Jenner Institute. Although Tomáš Hanke accepted the importance of this invention, he argued that, it is just a dream to reach all HIV reservoirs in the body ”.

Hope for 40 million people

About 40 million people worldwide live with HIV and most of them have to use life -long medication to suppress the virus.

HIV still leads to the death of millions of people every year. In 2023, one person died of HIV every minute.

This new study is considered one of the most concrete scientific progress in the direction of permanent treatment of the disease.