From AIDS Treatment News issue #282, Nov 07, 1997. An interview excerpt with Dr. Ho:
Is Eradication Possible?
ATN: What do you see, in the next several years, on eradication possibilities?
Dr. Ho: We are learning quite a bit. Eradication is still a goal; it is not something we or anyone else has achieved so far. But we are learning a lot about different viral compartments, and how quickly they could be eliminated once strong therapies are applied.
The available therapies have helped us eliminate over 99% of the virus in infected individuals. But we are learning about additional viral compartments. In our patients who have been treated very early and very hard, and have received this treatment two years now, we are still finding a residual pool of virus resting in certain CD4 cells, in a very quiescent way. This poses a new obstacle to deal with.
Some people would say it means eradication is not possible. But those of us who are working on the science look at it differently, and say this is information we need to achieve eradication. Now with this information, how do we move on? How do we flush that residual pool out, how do we protect the individual from that virus reactivating and spreading the infection?
Much fairly exciting basic research is underway, by several groups. If we go back a few years to 1994 or 1995, we would not have predicted that we would be dealing with such a small pool of virus after a year and a half or two years. But on the other hand, the cells that contain this virus are quiescent, so they will not turn themselves over very fast. So we need to think about continuing antiviral therapy, but also using certain immunological strategies to activate those cells so they could be flushed out. It poses a new obstacle; but it is a scientific challenge which has certain theoretical solutions. The research groups engaged in these issues are taking that on. It is quite exciting from a scientific perspective. "
For a fair, intelligent view on adherence, resistance, virological failure, eradication, and future treatment options, all issues that some have tried to lie about here on the thread are addressed fairly in this interview.
The entire interview can be retrieved:
thebody.com |
