Latest news with #PaulaCevaal
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
'New pathway' to cure for HIV discovered using tech from COVID-19 vaccine
Researchers have taken a giant leap in the search for an HIV cure by discovering a way to identify the virus even as it is camouflaged among other cells. HIV spreads by invading and multiplying within white blood cells, which fight disease and infection. One of the main roadblocks in developing a cure has been finding a way to isolate and kill the virus without also killing white blood cells and harming the body's immune system. Researchers from the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne, Australia have now cultivated a method to identify the virus among white blood cells, as demonstrated in a recent paper published in Nature Communications, isolating the virus for potential treatment. The technology involves mRNA — molecules isolated from DNA that can teach the body how to make a specific protein — which were also used in the COVID-19 vaccines. By introducing mRNA to white blood cells, it can force the cells to reveal the virus. Using mRNA in this way was 'previously thought impossible,' research fellow at the Doherty Institute and co-first author of the study Paula Cevaal told The Guardian, but the new development "could be a new pathway to an HIV cure.' '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. '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. A cure is still years away, as Cevaal said it would still need to be tested on animals and then humans to see if it can be done safely on living beings before they can test whether or not a potential treatment would even work. However, she added that that "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 Print
6 days ago
- Health
- The Print
Eliminating AIDS has been an uphill battle. But Melbourne researchers just got one step closer
'We sort of took on this challenge to try and see if we could redesign the lipid nanoparticle. And that is eventually where I think the biggest breakthrough has been,' Paula Cevaal, lead author at the University of Melbourne, told ThePrint. One of the reasons why HIV is a formidable opponent is because it hides inside our cells, making it difficult to eliminate them. The researchers combined different lipids—fats that can deliver treatment into the cell—into a fat bubble to deliver to the right cell where the virus is hidden. Bengaluru: Eliminating AIDS is a Sisyphian challenge. Treatments mostly miss the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that are hidden in the body. But in a breakthrough, a team of researchers from Melbourne have found a way to root out the virus hiding in our immune cells. They claim that they can reach 75 percent of infected cells. The study, 'Efficient mRNA delivery to resting T cells to reverse HIV latency', was published in the Nature Communications journal. Udayakumar Ranga, a professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), and who was not part of the study told ThePrint, 'Even if you have the best weapon in the world, there is nothing you can do to the virus because it is silent.' The silent virus acts like a sleeper cell Explaining why it's so difficult for the body to fight HIV, Ujjwal Rathore, Staff Research Scientist, University of California, said, 'Those (virus particles) just look essentially like any other cells which are uninfected (and) your immune system is unable to clear those infected cells.' Rathore was not part of the study. Usually to fight the virus, one needs to send mRNA—a messenger to tell the cells what proteins to make—to the cells to activate and kill the virus, a normal procedure in building vaccines. Then the T Cells, a type of white blood cells that fight infection, will be motivated to produce a protein to fight the virus. Now the challenge is how to deliver that mRNA. The usual delivery of mRNA is not effective as it breaks down by the time it reaches the T cell. 'Whereas if you make and encapsulate this mRNA into lipids and lipid nanoparticles, then the stability of mRNA increases, and the delivery is possible into cells,' Rathore added. Inside the cell, the delivery partner knocks on the door of the T cells. Then the unboxing begins—the endosomal escape mechanism. '(This) will break down the mRNA assembly or the cargo when in contact with the T-cell. Then the mRNA will be released, and that mRNA will start expressing the protein, the targeted protein,' explained Mrinmoy De, Associate Professor, Department of Organic Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science (IISc). With the help of the newly designed LNP (the delivery partner), the researchers used HIV's own 'master switch' protein—called Tat—to force hidden virus out of dormant immune cells. The study is carried out by taking cells from humans, in a petri dish inside the laboratory and not on humans. 'We haven't done in this study anything in animal models or anything in people. We're not there yet,' said Cevaal. Cevaal's study showed that one can force the hidden virus out of hiding in infected cells. However, simply revealing the virus is not enough—a second step to boost the immune attacks or adding antiviral drugs will be critical to fully clear the virus. Imagine the virus is a thief hiding in one of many rooms in a huge palace. To catch the thief, the cops must search every single room. HIV, just like a thief, can hide in any of the CD4, special type of immune cells. So when the war room is highjacked by the HIV sleeper cells, the immunity system collapses. This is the issue with HIV, which can enter any of the many CD4 cells in the body and hide there. To pop out the stealthy virus, the drug must enter every individual cell, like an encounter specialist. 'Only one in 10,000 to 100,000 CD4 cells may harbour a hidden virus. The therapy of making a drug enter every cell has its undesirable side effects,' said Ranga. According to Ranga the researchers did something smart. They delivered a Tat protein in the form of mRNA and was made to pop into the cells with the help of specially designed LPN. 'However, Tat protein itself is highly toxic and can cause cell death,' Ranga added. So even though they do not activate the cells, the danger remains. 'Of course this is an essential question that we are studying at the moment and that we will continue to study closely. We will perform experiments to test whether they (healthy cells) are affected by the presence of this Tat protein and up to what extent,' Cevaal added. The potential of such studies depends on how they translate into a technology to reach patients. 'We are very much aware that the pursuit to try and resolve the HIV AIDS pandemic is very much not a done deal, that's really triggering us to continue working in this area to design a new therapeutic,' Cevaal added. (Edited by Sanya Mathur) Also Read: Eradicating malaria or mosquitoes? Gene editing raises ethical questions
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First Post
10-06-2025
- Health
- First Post
Breakthrough in hunt for AIDS treatment: Scientists develop new mRNA technique for permanent HIV treatment
A paper published in Nature Communications says that scientists at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne have tapped into mRNA technology to locate the AIDS virus and thereby fully clear it from an infected body read more Scientists have seemed to have found a breakthrough in curing the deadly HIV AIDS, which will force the virus out of blood cells. The possible cure tackles the HIV's ability to conceal itself in white blood cells, capable of reactivation, rendering any treatment or drug useless to deal with the virus. A paper published in Nature Communications says that scientists at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne have tapped into mRNA technology to locate the AIDS virus and thereby fully clear it from an infected body. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that mRNA can be delivered into the cells harbouring hidden HIV by encasing it in a specially designed microscopic fat bubble. Once inside, the mRNA prompts the cells to expose the dormant virus. Dr Paula Cevaal, the co-author of the study, said the employment of mRNA technology in the type of white blood cell that is home to HIV was earlier thought to be 'impossible' as those cells did not take up the fat bubbles, or lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) that are used to carry them. Our hope is that this new nanoparticle design could be a new pathway to an HIV cure,' Cevaal said, adding that her team has developed a new type of LNP that those cells will accept, known as LNP X. However, more research is required to determine whether merely exposing the virus is sufficient for the immune system to eliminate it, or if this approach needs to be paired with other treatments to fully eradicate HIV from the body. '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,' Cevaal said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
News18
06-06-2025
- Health
- News18
Can This Covid Vaccine Technology Also 'Kick And Kill' HIV?
Last Updated: A team of Australian scientists has developed a novel method to reveal hidden HIV in white blood cells Scientists at Australia's Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne have developed a groundbreaking method to 'wake up" hidden HIV within the human body, a crucial step that could enable their complete removal. And they have used mRNA technology, the same kind used in Pfizer and Moderna's Covid-19 vaccines. Nearly 40 million people are living with HIV worldwide. One of the main challenges in curing the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) lies in its ability to establish latent reservoirs. These are small numbers of infected cells, primarily resting CD4+ T cells, where the virus integrates its genome but remains dormant and invisible to both the immune system and antiretroviral therapies (ART). While ART can suppress the virus to undetectable levels, it cannot eliminate these hidden reservoirs. If treatment stops, the virus can re-emerge and replicate, necessitating lifelong medication for people living with HIV. The Australian team discovered a novel way to deliver 'special instructions" to these hidden, latently infected cells. In a study published in Nature Communications, the researchers demonstrated how they packaged mRNA inside novel, microscopic fat-like bubbles called lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), specifically a new design termed 'LNP X". The key breakthrough was engineering these LNPs to successfully transport the mRNA into the previously hard-to-reach resting CD4+ T cells. Once delivered, the mRNA instructs these cells to 'give up" the dormant virus, forcing it out of hiding and making it visible. This strategy aligns with the long-sought 'kick and kill" approach to HIV cure, where latency-reversing agents 'shock" the virus out of its dormant state, allowing the body's immune system or other therapies to 'kill" the newly exposed infected cells. Dr Paula Cevaal, a research fellow at the Doherty Institute and co-first author, described the initial results as astonishing, requiring repeated experiments to confirm their accuracy. 'We were overwhelmed by how big the difference was," she noted, emphasising the unprecedented success in revealing the hidden virus. While the research is currently laboratory-based and conducted on cells donated by HIV patients, this innovative method represents a significant step forward. The next crucial phase involves preclinical testing in animal models, followed by human trials to assess safety and efficacy. First Published: June 07, 2025, 04:36 IST
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- 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
