UCLA doctors report HIV disappearance
Researchers warn public against premature hope
By Allyssa Lee
As the first documentation of its kind, UCLA researchers
reported a case of HIV disappearance in an infected infant.
The report, which appeared in the in the March 30 issue of the
New England Journal of Medicine, presents evidence that will
hopefully set a precedence for future HIV and AIDS research, as
well as for the prestige of the UCLA School of Medicine, officials
said.
While testing the infant, whose family name remains disclosed,
UCLA researchers found positive evidence of the virus in the infant
at 19 days and 51 days after birth, but then negative results at
age 11 months. When tested again at 13 months, the infant remained
negative.
"This finding does give researchers new hope, opening up a whole
new direction to probe," said Dr. Irving Chen, co-investigator of
the study and director of the UCLA AIDS Institute, in a prepared
statement. "Further awareness and careful study of infants with
potential exposure to HIV and evidence of virus disappearance
should provide important insights into the HIV virus."
The caliber of the discovery did not come unexpectedly, said Dr.
Joy Frank, associate dean of the UCLA School of Medicine.
"Our medical school is already well known for having outstanding
research, especially in AIDS research," Frank said. "This just adds
to the reputation of the school."
UCLA medical students shared similar sentiments.
"We’re one of the foremost centers in AIDS research," said
Richard Kwon, a first-year medical student. "This is a good place
for things to happen."
First-year medical student Brian Madden added, "This is
incredible as a discovery. It definitely bodes well for continued
research."
Some students, however, remained undaunted by the report.
"I don’t think it’s cause for any prestige," said Jennifer Wei,
a first-year medical student. "It’s just something they observed.
They haven’t found out why.
"I just don’t think people should be that optimistic," Wei
continued. "I think people should be realistic."
Indeed, Dr. Yvonne Bryson, principal investigator of the study
and professor of pediatric infectious diseases in the Department of
Pediatrics, said she remains hesitant about raising false
hopes.
"Hopefully it will open up new avenues for AIDS research, but I
don’t want people to overinterpret the finding," Bryson said. "I
just think this was an observation that was interesting and
unexpected, and we were very conservative before reporting it."
The HIV disappearance was part of a large UCLA study looking at
HIV-infected mothers and their infants to determine why the babies
were infected, as well as to facilitate early diagnosis of the
virus.
Since the documentation of the infant, Bryson said she received
notice of similar cases and encouraged investigators to look at the
cases carefully.
"These cases have usually been dismissed as laboratory
mistakes," Bryson continued in a prepared statement. "Looking at
this data makes me wonder if perhaps they were not mistakes."
UCLA researchers said they were still observing the progress of
the child, now 5 years old.
"We would look more closely to see if the virus is defective in
any way and we’re looking into the immune system of the child to
see if his cells are more resistant," Bryson said.
Researchers said their hypothesis was that the baby might have
had a low-level infection of the virus that was insufficient to
establish infection and possibly that the infant’s cells were more
resistant.
Other researchers participating in the study included Shen Pang,
assistant adjunct professor of surgery and the UCLA School of
Medicine’s Amadou Diagne, Ruth Dickover and Lian Wei.