from Hacker News

Researchers find a way to make the HIV virus visible within white blood cells

by colinprince on 6/6/25, 4:44 PM with 36 comments

  • by w10-1 on 6/6/25, 5:33 PM

    Here's the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60001-2

    To be clear: they deliver the HIV TAT protein which activates latent cells to transcribe HIV (ultimately possibly producing viable HIV virions).

    Activating-to-kill has been pursued with other agents, but none have proven effective at depleting the reservoir. (The latent reservoir requires HIV anti-retroviral therapy to be lifelong, making one of the top three most expensive diseases in the US).

    This may be more of a proof for the method, of encapsulating a fragile mRNA in a protective lipid layer, but one which will be incorporated into cells. I'd expect it to be used outside attempts to cure HIV (having consumed some HIV funding).

  • by blindriver on 6/6/25, 11:31 PM

    Pharma companies aren’t incentivized to cure HIV. Gilead found a cure for Hepatitis C but instead of being praised for it, it was derided by Wall Street because the limited financial value. I certainly hope a more honorable company will find a cure instead of a monthly treatment like Ozempic, which is a Wall Street darling because it’s expensive and monthly.

  • by bawolff on 6/6/25, 7:07 PM

    Interesting. I wonder if this would be applicable to other viruses that hide dormant like shingles or herpes.

  • by breppp on 6/6/25, 7:35 PM

  • by istjohn on 6/6/25, 7:24 PM

    > Prof Tomáš Hanke of the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford, disputed the idea that getting RNA into white blood cells had been a significant challenge. He said the hope that all cells in the body where HIV was hiding could be reached in this way was “merely a dream”.

  • by user____name on 6/6/25, 11:20 PM

    Another breakthrough earlier last month: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-59398-7

  • by kylehotchkiss on 6/7/25, 9:27 PM

    Macrophage targeted mRNA. Wonderful.

    Now do TB & leprosy.

  • by hackernoops on 6/7/25, 1:37 AM

    Positive development.