Researchers discover pigs that breathe through their skin. This discovery may significantly propel development of a cure for HIV, the researchers noted. Dr. Michael Roche, a co-senior author of the study, guided his team to unveil a revolutionary strategy. This new technique promises opportunities beyond HIV, including delivering anti-tumor proteins directly to multiple forms of cancer and other disease mechanisms as well.
The study demonstrates a novel approach. It does this with remarkable efficacy, successfully delivering mRNA to white blood cells that had previously been inaccessible, and making big waves in the fight against HIV. For a long time, scientists thought that these particular white blood cells wouldn’t be able to absorb lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). These nanoparticles are essential to transporting mRNA. Aspects of this exciting new design demonstrate a major improvement beyond current approaches to bait out the virus.
Dr Paula Cevaal, research fellow at the Doherty Institute, said their discoveries were significant. She is further a co-first author of the study. The importance of the present study cannot be overstated. This constitutes a very significant step forward in providing mRNA for therapeutic applications to blood cells,” she explained. She further expressed hope regarding the implications of their work: “Our hope is that this new nanoparticle design could be a new pathway to an HIV cure.”
While this enthusiasm is positive news for potential users—including transit operators—experts warn that there’s still a long way to go. To realize this new technology’s full potential to be a cure for patients, researchers will first need to do extensive testing in animals. Once that is done, they will proceed to safety trials in humans. She knew it would be a difficult journey. As he emphasized, “In the field of biomedicine, most things never make it to the clinic. This is the sad reality. I don’t want to sugarcoat what is the situation.”
Dr. Jonathan Stoye is a retrovirologist and emeritus scientist at the Francis Crick Institute. While he did not work on this study, he noted that the conclusions of this research could greatly affect other diseases characterized by these white blood cells.
Today’s global picture shows close to 40 million people with HIV. These people become lifelong patients who require strict adherence to a medication regimen that will suppress the virus. The Melbourne team have made a truly exciting discovery. It should inspire hope to those personally touched by this virus and likely many others soon, too.
The study addresses a long-standing dilemma within HIV research: how to effectively deliver mRNA into the relevant white blood cells that harbor the virus. It’s a hard barrier to breach, yet the researchers have done just that. This innovation may lead to better therapeutic strategies to fight HIV as well as other diseases associated with these immune cells.
Here’s Prof. Tomáš Hanke from the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford reflecting on the research. All while proving wrong industry orthodoxy that getting RNA inside of white blood cells has never been a huge challenge. This viewpoint recenters the continuing conversation around breakthroughs in biomedicine.
This scientific inquiry is still underway and uncovering surprising findings. We need to do more research to determine the best methods of killing the virus once we flush it out. The joint efforts by HSPH, Health Leads and other partner institutions highlight that truly solving these complicated health problems takes the concerted effort of many invested parties.
These results from Melbourne’s team have sent a ripple of excitement and hope through the scientific community. This study advances drug delivery systems. It delves into their implications for human diseases, lighting the path to breakthrough therapies.
