Major HIV breakthrough forces hidden fragments of the virus to emerge so it can be cleared from the body
Researchers in Australia has developed a new treatment that forces hidden fragments of the virus - normally concealed within human cells - to emerge and expose themselves to the immune system.
The breakthrough could enable the body, aided by antiviral drugs, to detect and destroy any lingering viral reservoirs.
HIV has remained incurable because the virus can integrate itself into a cell's DNA, laying dormant and undetectable to both medication and immune defenses.
Scientists said they've created a nanoparticle capable of delivering genetic instructions to infected cells, prompting them to produce a signal that reveals the virus's presence.
Dr Paula Cevaal of the Doherty Institute and co-author of the study told The Guardian that the feat was 'previously thought impossible'.
Cevaal said: '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.
'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 discovery was first revealed in the journal Nature Communications, where researchers said they were initially so astonished that they had to rerun the tests.
Further research would be needed to determine whether revealing the virus would be enough to trigger an immune response, with tests only being carried out in the lab.
It could still take years before clinical trials for the drug began, when it would have to go through rigorous testing before reaching consumers.
However, the advance represents another step forward for the 1.2 million Americans currently living with an HIV infection - for which they took drugs daily.
An estimated 31,800 people were believed to be infected every year, although that's a 12 per cent decline on five years ago.
Globally, nearly 40 million people have the virus.
The new nanoparticle's based on mRNA technology, the same as was used in covid vaccines made by Pfizer and other vaccine manufacturers.
In their paper, the scientists revealed that they could deliver mRNA instructions to cells using the nanoparticle. The mRNA then instruct cells to generate substances that reveal the presence of HIV, but only if the virus was present.
The study done in the laboratory was carried out in cells donated by HIV patients.
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