CORRECTING SOME AWFUL SCIENCE JOURNALISM ABOUT HIV FROM NYT AND NPR

Operating on the assumption that science fiction enthusiasts tend to be interested in science, I will occasionally use this blog to correct a story that the mainstream media gets wrong. When I do this, I claim no expertise other than the ability to read the scientific literature. Non-scientists can acquire this skill, and, indeed, I have taught students as young as sixteen to begin to do so, but the vast majority of non-scientists have no clue how to do it.

This week, two usually reputable media outlets (National Public Radio and the New York Times) both claimed a huge breakthrough occurred in HIV research, but they explained it so badly that I couldn’t make heads or tails about what they were claiming without tracking down the article on which they were reporting. They both got the hook correct—the approach uses mRNA encased in a lipid bubble—the same technology used with the vaccines against Covid. Herein, I will summarize the rest of the story in language meant to be understandable by any educated adult.

The problem: HIV drugs are now great at shutting down HIV production. Drug cocktails hit multiple steps of viral replication. However, they don’t do anything about “latent” HIV. This is copies of the virus that sit in the human genome in certain types of white blood cells. These copies can do absolutely nothing for a very long time and then get activated and cause full-blown disease. As such, although we have treatments for AIDS, no cure yet exists.

The solution: Turn on virus production in these cells, and then let the immune system and the generally toxic effects of active HIV replication eliminate this HIV reservoir.

What goes in the lipid bubble: two different things, actually, as the paper tried out two different approaches. The first approach used an mRNA providing the instructions for making Tat protein. Tat comes from HIV. Tat protein activates the production of HIV RNA. It is sufficient to get virus production going.

The second approach used another technology of which you are likely aware: CRISPR. That’s a much-hyped technology used in gene therapy to edit DNA. However, the version of CRISPR that goes in the lipid bubble can’t do this—it’s defective. It can, however, bind specifically to the HIV copies in the genome. It is engineered to bring another protein that turns on RNA production from the HIV copies in the genome along with it. Same result: virus production is activated.

The caveat: This study used white blood cells in culture. None of this has been done in living patients yet. To their credit, both NPR and NYT got this correct.

As such, this study is an early step in what seems to be a promising approach. It’s not coming to patients anytime soon.

If you can read the scientific literature, you don’t need me. For those readers, here’s the link to the article in Nature Communications: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60001-2