I read your response to a recent question regarding preventative/therapeutic vaccines and whether HIV poz people will be left behing if a preventative vaccine is developed. I also recently read a report from a researcher named, Zack at UCLA in which he has found that HIV hides in the thymus where mature T-cells are produced thus explaining the replenishing of infected latent cells T-cells. My question to you is that if mautre T-cells are infected in the Thymus where they are produced wouldn't that render any therapeutice vaccine useless? I'm no scientist but it seems to me that if cells are infected with HIV when they are produced, then there will be no way to vaccinate them to makie them respond and kill HIV. Am I correct or have I misunderstood or is my logic flawed. I've been on Remune/HAART for 2 1/2 years but am thinking of discontinuing. I am hopeful about some of the new vaccine inititives especially the one coming out of Emory University later this year from a reseacher named Harriet Robinson. While it may work very well for uninfected patients, I now have doubts about any efficacy for infected patients due to Dr. Zack's research. Thanks in advance for your response.

Atlanta

Dear Atlanta,

I think you may have misinterpreted the implications of the work on thymic cells for vaccines. Therapeutic vaccines are targeted at allowing the immune system to control the progression of disease, not eliminating all infected cells. We know that some people are already able to do this without vaccine, the so-called long term non progressors. They have strong immune responses to the virus and maintain normal T cell counts for years, yet they have latently infected cells, and no doubt, have infected thymus cells as well.

The answer will not come from our hypothesizing, but actually doing the research. Nonetheless, I think therapeutic vaccines still have tremendous promise.

ATP