Scientists Announce Major Breakthrough In Search For HIV Cure

A research team in Melbourne, Australia, has announced a major breakthough in the search for an HIV cure after a method was discovered to force dormant virus out of hiding inside human cells.

Breakthrough in search for HIV cure leaves researchers ‘overwhelmed’

[image or embed] — The Guardian (@theguardian.com) June 4, 2025 at 10:18 PM

From The Guardian:

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.

There are an estimated 40 million people living with HIV around the world who, for now, must take specialized meds for the rest of their lives in order to keep the virus in check.

Those with “undetectable” levels of the HIV are able to stop the progression to symptoms and prevent transmission to others.

A breakthrough has occurred in the battle for an HIV cure that was ‘previously thought impossible.’ New research has developed a way to allow mRNA technology to make the pathogen visible to virus-killing white blood cells www.independent.co.uk/news/health/… [image or embed]

— Delthia Ricks (@dricks.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 12:25 PM