“In a paper published in Nature Communications, the researchers have shown for the 1st time that mRNA can be delivered into the cells where HIV is hiding, by encasing it in a tiny, specially formulated fat bubble. The mRNA then instructs the cells to reveal the virus. The virus can no longer hide!,” exults Sanho Tree. That’s good news, because HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.
The Guardian reports:
A cure for HIV could be a step closer after researchers found a new way to force the virus out of hiding inside human cells.
The virus’s ability to conceal itself inside certain white blood cells has been one of the main challenges for scientists looking for a cure. It means there is a reservoir of the HIV in the body, capable of reactivation, that neither the immune system nor drugs can tackle.
Now researchers from the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne, have demonstrated a way to make the virus visible, paving the way to fully clear it from the body.
It is based on mRNA technology, which came to prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic when it was used in vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech…..
It was “previously thought impossible” to deliver mRNA to the type of white blood cell that is home to HIV, said Dr Paula Cevaal, research fellow at the Doherty Institute and co-first author of the study, because those cells did not take up the fat bubbles, or lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), used to carry it.
The team have developed a new type of LNP that those cells will accept, known as LNP X. She said: “Our hope is that this new nanoparticle design could be a new pathway to an HIV cure.”
Scientists have engineered a virus that steals proteins from the HIV virus, hoping to use it to eliminate AIDS.
In other news, a study suggests that a once-yearly injection could prevent HIV. The maker of the injection hopes to submit the drug to the FDA for approval in 2027. Don’t expect that drug to be on the market in 2027. The FDA can take many years to approve medical devices and drugs. The FDA didn’t approve a home test for HIV until 24 years after it first received an application. According to an FDA advisory committee, the test held “the potential to prevent the transmission of more than 4,000 new HIV infections in its first year of use alone.” That means thousands of people likely got infected with AIDS as a result of the delay in approving it. At least a hundred thousand people died waiting years for the FDA to approve beta blockers.
Recent cuts to staffing at the FDA could result in it taking even longer for the FDA to approve new drugs. Some experts have argued that the FDA should only be able to remove unsafe or useless drugs and devices from the market, instead of the FDA having to approve drugs and devices before they can be sold. Requiring approval before they can be sold results in delays of many years before life-saving drugs become available.
