‘Unthinkable’ HIV Discovery Sparks New Hope for a Cure 

'Unthinkable' HIV Discovery Sparks New Hope for a Cure 
'Unthinkable' HIV Discovery Sparks New Hope for a Cure 

United States: There are around 39 million people worldwide with HIV, and though medical treatments give them a good chance to thrive, HIV remains untreatable. 

More about the news 

Out of all treatments, Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is the best at bringing the virus levels to such a low point that it almost cannot be detected. 

Nevertheless, if the virus is able to hide in some white blood cells, it becomes much more difficult to get rid of it completely. 

Recently, scientists in Australia have developed LNP X, which is capable of directing mRNA into these hard-to-access cells, as the New York Post reported. 

As soon as mRNA enters the cells, it results in the virus being revealed, which may enable the immune system or other treatments to destroy it. 

According to Paula Cevaal of the Doherty Institute and one of the first authors, this abnormal technique was once thought to be something that could not happen. 

“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 stated. 

“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 noted. 

“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 expert continued. 

Researchers published their findings in the Nature Communications journal last week, as the New York Post reported. 

Many years often pass before human clinical trials begin, but the effects will be very important. 

The information contributes to new breakthroughs in science, showing that a cure for HIV could not be too far in the future.