 |
|
|
 |
|
 Interview with
Dr. David Ho
CEO of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, Professor at Rockefeller University Medical School and Head of the China AIDS Initiative
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
CBS CARES: There seems to be a debate whether HIV should be seen as an immune activating disease or as an immunosuppressant disease. What's your view and do you foresee HIV patients ever being treated with immune modulating or immunosuppressant drugs?
DR. HO: HIV is a fascinating disease. The virus comes in, it replicates in these CD4 T cells, and gradually depletes them. That's the immunosuppressive aspect. But at the same time, you look at the uninfected CD4 T cells or the CD8 T cells, they are activated. So there's a specific immunodeficiency in the context of a generalized activation of the immune system. It's paradoxical, but now pretty well demonstrated. So for this immunosuppressive defect, you want to stop the virus from depleting those important CD4 T cells. At the same time, you want the generalized activation to go away because it is not good.
My colleague here, Marty Markowitz, has a clinical study in patients in the early phase, when they first become infected. He treats them with HIV drugs to block virus replication. Simultaneously, he gives them an immunosuppressive agent, what we call cyclosporine, to tone down the generalized activation and to see if that has a beneficial effect.
CBS CARES: There is some debate on this issue too: does Hepatitis C and HIV co-infection result in a delayed antibody production so that a person in this situation should wait longer for a reliable HIV antibody test?
DR. HO: I'm not sure if we would have data to speak to that. And I haven't read anything that's convincing to me that Hepatitis C slows down creation of HIV antibodies…what's called "seroconversion."
CBS CARES: Wangari Maathia, the Kenyan woman who recently won the Nobel Peace Prize, says that HIV was created in a lab by scientists to perpetrate genocide? What would you say in response to that suggestion?
DR. HO: I don't think that's my view. Well, let me clarify that: it is definitely not my view! HIV has so much that science did not know previously. We are still not smart enough to create this virus. And there's ample evidence from studies in chimps, in monkeys, in various primate species in Africa, to tell us that these viruses have been around in those animal populations for a long time. The virus that is causing the global epidemic is closest to that found in a type of chimp found in Central and West Africa.
CBS CARES: HIV was around for decades before it was discovered and diagnosable--and infecting humans during that period. Has anything been learned from that to prevent a reoccurrence with another type of retrovirus?
DR. HO: I think we could pick up anything that is fairly close to these viruses through the current tests. But if you have a virus that's substantially different, I'm not sure we would pick it up. And we know new viruses are constantly emerging. SARS, while different from HIV, is a good example.
The other thing I should mention, going back to your last question, there is a viral evolution clock that ticks at a certain rate. So, we know that HIV's been around for a long time--and in the human population since the 1920's or 1930's, probably at a very low level in Africa. And there is a documented case of HIV infection in a human going back to 1959. So, I don't agree at all with the statement from the Nobel Peace Prize winner.
CBS CARES: Turning to you, is it true that, when you came to the United States from China, you couldn't speak a word of English?
DR. HO: That's true.
CBS CARES: How did you learn English?
DR. HO: The hard way; being thrown in there and told: "Learn!"
CBS CARES: What were your first impressions of American life and culture? Was it different from what you expected?
DR. HO: Well, this was 1965 and I was 12, about to turn 13. My world totally changed. I was used to walking and bicycling everywhere in Taiwan. I may have ridden in a car twice. We did not have a TV set in Taiwan and all of a sudden, there was a TV set in our home. I remember, in Taiwan, my mother went to the local market every day and brought home what we were going to eat that day. All of a sudden, we were in this giant supermarket in Los Angeles, where you push the cart around and you load up for the next week or a few weeks. It was just very different. But the most traumatizing thing was not being able to communicate. I went from a fairly good student to probably the dumbest kid in the class, overnight.
CBS CARES: Your parents seem to have had a very strong influence on you? Can you elaborate on that?
DR. HO: Well, while my parents were not very strict, they had a big influence and instilled certain important values in me. Most importantly, I've walked away from my early days with the idea that doing scholarly things and making personal sacrifices were very important. I think it has to do with my upbringing by my parents and close relatives. And so my pursuit of science is in that context. They just gave me a great deal of freedom. And, as I get older, I appreciate more and more what they have done for me. I sort of understood it intellectually when I was younger, but now I actually feel that even more strongly because my own children are growing up.
My father left Taiwan in 1957 to pursue a graduate degree in this country so that he could have a brighter future for his family. He left behind my mother (his wife) and two young kids--my brother and myself. We did not see him until 1965, about eight years. I've gone to China 24 times in the last three years, but my father did not return for eight years. I just think of the enormous personal sacrifices he made for all of us--pursuing a graduate degree in the U.S., working on the side and sending $50 back a month, which was more than enough in Taiwan in those days.
CBS CARES: How did you find out about the AIDS crisis and why have you devoted your life to the fight against this and other infectious diseases?
DR. HO: A lot of it was being at the right place at the right time. In the early '70s, I was studying physics and about to get my degree when I realized that modern biology was interesting. So, I made a switch in my last year of college and went to medical school with the idea of pursuing research. When I was done with medical training, I was just doing an extra year as chief medical resident.
It was that year, 1981, when I was preparing for my research fellowship on viruses that we saw the initial cases of AIDS in the west side of Los Angeles. Two of the first five AIDS cases that were reported were cases that I saw as chief resident.
I became fascinated by this new disease. The new disease certainly smelled like an infectious disease to me. I went after it despite advice to the contrary by some colleagues that said, "Why would you want go after something that is esoteric?" But it was right, in retrospect, having the conviction that what I was looking at was a new and scientifically important disease…something that was acquired, something that destroyed the immune system, and might be transmitted by sex.
CBS CARES: Is there anything else you want to add?
DR. HO: No, we covered a great deal.
CBS CARES: Well, thank you very much for doing this interview and giving us all this time.
DR. HO: You're welcome.
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
