Latest news with #Cevaal
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
"Gasping": Scientists Make Breakthrough Toward Full Cure for HIV
Researchers say they've taken a major step toward finding a cure for HIV. As The Guardian reports, scientists at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne found a way to make the HIV virus visible, potentially laying the groundwork for ways to banish it from the body altogether. As detailed in a paper published in the journal Nature Communications, the team developed a way to send messenger RNA into cells, to root out the hiding virus by fully enveloping it in a bubble of formulated fat called lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). The genetic molecules then instruct the cells to make the virus visible. Author and Doherty Institute research fellow Paula Cevaal told the Guardian that it was "previously thought impossible" to deliver mRNA into HIV-containing white blood cells. But thanks to a new type of LNPs, dubbed LNP X, the team found a way for these cells to accept the mRNA. "Our hope is that this new nanoparticle design could be a new pathway to an HIV cure," she added. The human immunodeficiency virus attacks the human body's immune system and can lead to deadly AIDS if left untreated. Despite decades of research, there's still no effective cure for the disease; though a handful of patients have been fully cured of HIV, the treatments remain brutally complex and expensive. While the number of people in the United States living with HIV has decreased since 2018, over 39,000 new patients were diagnosed in 2023. The latest research came with such surprising findings that the team didn't believe it at first. "We were overwhelmed by how [much of a] night and day difference it was — from not working before, and then all of a sudden it was working. And all of us were just sitting gasping like, 'wow,'" Cevaal told the Guardian. While it's a promising step in the right direction, scientists still have to figure out whether making the hidden virus visible will cause the body's immune system to deal with it. Other possibilities include developing new ways to combine their findings with other gene therapies to ultimately cure HIV. Before the latest technique can be used in humans, it would also have to be put through its paces, from animal experiments to human safety trials, a process that could easily take many years. And Cevaal appears to be realistic about those chances. "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," she told 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," she added. Beyond HIV, the researchers are hoping their LNP-based mRNA delivery method could be applied to other diseases as well, including certain types of cancer. More on HIV: Religious Conservatives Trying to End Insurance Coverage of Incredibly Effective Anti-HIV Drug
New York Post
3 days ago
- Health
- New York Post
Doctors near HIV cure with ‘previously impossible' discovery: ‘We have never seen anything close to as good'
An estimated 39 million people around the world are living with HIV — and, while treatment options can ensure they have long, healthy lives, there is no known cure. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) — the most effective current treatment — can reduce HIV levels in the body so low the virus is almost undetectable. An estimated 39 million people around the world are living with HIV. dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images However, the fact that the virus can hide in certain white blood cells has been a major hurdle in fully eradicating it. Now, researchers in Australia have developed a novel lipid nanoparticle, dubbed LNP X, capable of delivering mRNA into these elusive cells. Once inside, the mRNA instructs the cells to reveal the concealed virus, potentially allowing the immune system or additional therapies to target and destroy it. Paula Cevaal, research fellow at the Doherty Institute and co-first author of the study, told the Guardian that this remarkable scientific feat was 'previously thought impossible.' '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,' Cevaal said. Researchers in Australia have developed a novel lipid nanoparticle, dubbed LNP X, capable of delivering mRNA into white blood cells harboring HIV (pictured here). Corona Borealis – '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,' Cevaal added. '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 results were published last week in the journal Nature Communications. While it could take years to get to human clinical trials — the implications are enormous. The findings add to the latest scientific advancements that suggest a cure for HIV could be on the horizon. Last year, researchers in Amsterdam used gene-editing technology to eliminate all traces of the virus from cells in the laboratory. And last July, a 60-year-old German man was declared HIV-free, making him the seventh person to be cured.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Breakthrough in search for HIV cure leaves researchers ‘overwhelmed'
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. In a paper published in Nature Communications, the researchers have shown for the first 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. Globally, there are almost 40 million people living with HIV, who must take medication for the rest of their lives in order to suppress the virus and ensure they do not develop symptoms or transmit it. For many it remains deadly, with UNAids figures suggesting one person died of HIV every minute in 2023. 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.' When a colleague first presented test results at the lab's weekly meeting, Cevaal said, they seemed too good to be true. 'We sent her back into the lab to repeat it, and she came back the next week with results that were equally good. So we had to believe it. And of course, since then, we've repeated it many, many, many more times. 'We were overwhelmed by how [much of a] night and day difference it was – from not working before, and then all of a sudden it was working. And all of us were just sitting gasping like, 'wow'.' Further research will be needed to determine whether revealing the virus is enough to allow the body's immune system to deal with it, or whether the technology will need to be combined with other therapies to eliminate HIV from the body. The study is laboratory based and was carried out in cells donated by HIV patients. The path to using the technology as part of a cure for patients is long, and would require successful tests in animals followed by safety trials in humans, likely to take years, before efficacy trials could even begin. '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. '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.' Dr Michael Roche of the University of Melbourne and co-senior author of the research, said the discovery could have broader implications beyond HIV, with the relevant white blood cells also involved in other diseases including cancers. Dr Jonathan Stoye, a retrovirologist and emeritus scientist at the Francis Crick Institute, who was not involved in the study, said the approach taken by the Melbourne team appeared be a major advance on existing strategies to force the virus out of hiding, but further studies would be needed to determine how best to kill it after that. He added: 'Ultimately, one big unknown remains. Do you need to eliminate the entire reservoir for success or just the major part? If just 10% of the latent reservoir survives will that be sufficient to seed new infection? Only time will tell. 'However, that does not detract from the significance of the current study, which represents a major potential advance in delivery of mRNA for therapeutic purposes to blood cells.' Prof Tomáš Hanke of the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford, disputed the idea that getting RNA into white blood cells had been a significant challenge. He said the hope that all cells in the body where HIV was hiding could be reached in this way was 'merely a dream'.
