Researchers are using RNA in a new approach to combat HIV

Now, University of Waterloo associate professor of pharmacy Emmanuel Ho has developed a new nanomedicine loaded with genetic material called small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) to combat human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) through gene therapy. These siRNAs regulate which genes or proteins are turned on or off in our cells and showed a 73 percent reduction in HIV replication.

“This opens the door to new therapies in the fight against HIV,” said Dr. Ho, one of the Waterloo researchers and entrepreneurs leading health innovation in Canada.

Autophagy, also known as the body's recycling process, plays an important role in our body to eliminate microbes such as viruses and bacteria inside cells. HIV is quite smart and produces a protein, Nef, that prevents cells from activating autophagy.

This is the first research to develop a combined nanomedicine that can reactivate autophagy and prevent HIV from entering cells, allowing our body to restart its defense system.

Additionally, HIV has a gene, CCR5, that allows the virus to enter a cell. siRNAs target both Nef and CCR5 to reduce HIV infection.

This nanomedicine is intended to be applied vaginally to protect against sexual transmission of HIV. As a result, the nanomedicine is designed to be stable without leaking siRNA in the acidic vaginal environment, but release the siRNA once inside the cells.

“Viruses are smart. They produce Nef proteins to prevent autophagy from occurring,” Ho said. “Our process allows our body to fight the viral infection without the need for additional medications.”

Ho confirms that next steps include further optimizing the process and improving our understanding of how autophagy plays a role in how our cells protect us from viruses.

“We also hope that this will shed some light to develop more alternative approaches to effectively reduce antimicrobial resistance,” Ho said.