Will there ever be a Vaccine to HIV?

[Carlton Hogan]

In article <3j7rih$kni at netnews.upenn.edu> David Peritt <Peritt_d at a1.mscf.upenn.edu> writes:
(snip)

>PS.  All this media hype on IL2 is just that.  

Agreed. This data is basically the same stuff that Cliff Lane has 
underwhelmed any number of conferences in the last year. One ofd the most 
disturbing thing about this work is that **clinical** data is not 
available: in some cases simply because ni provision was made for it.

So we are left with the tautology that a cytokine that increases CD4
counts does, indeed, raise CD4 counts. It would be darned nice to know
if this is of overall benefit to the participants, especially given the well
documented viral activity spike accompanying IL-2 administration. Another 
concern that I have that is pure speculation at this time is that 
there is the possibility that specific clonal populations are depleted 
in HIV disease: amping up the proliferation of what is left may aggravate
a pre-existent imbalance.

(definitely *not* speaking for NIAID or the U on this one...)


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 |   Carlton Hogan  (carlton at gopher.ccbr.umn.edu)                         |  
 |   Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS Statistical Center  |  
 |   Coordinating Center for Biometric Research                           |  
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