Researchers “overwhelmed” by potential HIV cure using tech developed to fight COVID-19

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HIV researchers in Australia have figured out a way to make the virus visible in white blood cells using mRNA, something that could lead to an eventual cure.

Researchers from the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne were able to get an HIV-detecting form of mRNA into cells donated by HIV patients by wrapping the mRNA in a newly developed coat made of lipid nanoparticles (or “fat bubbles” as The Guardian called them). The nanoparticles got worldwide attention when they were used to carry mRNA into cells in the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

Once inside the cell, the mRNA can attach itself to the HIV within infected cells, making it much easier to locate the often hard-to-find virus. HIV mutates quickly, and the resulting large number of variant strains has made it difficult to develop a single therapy against them all. However, the mRNA has proven effective in locating multiple strains, making it an ideal technology for a possible 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,” said Dr. Paula Cevaal, one of the institute’s researchers. In fact, she said that she and her fellow researchers were so overwhelmed by the tests’ positive results that they…

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