DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES Public Health Service

 

National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, Maryland 20892

Building: 31
Room: 7A03
Phone: (301) 496-9118
Fax: (301) 496-4409

 

May 2, 1991

Pablo Rubinstein, M.D.

Director, Fred H. Allen

Laboratory of Immunogenetics

The Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute
of The New York Blood Center

310 East 67 Street

New York, NY 10021

Dear Dr. Rubinstein: df

es
Your letter of April 4, to Dr. Joshua Lederberg regarding interest in studies of the
association of HLA compatibility and the risk of transplacental infection was
forwarded to Dr. Fauci for comments on the access to appropriate cohorts. Dr. Fauci
has asked that I look into our studies involving cohorts of HIV infected mothers and
their children and respond to you.

For your information, the NIAID Division of AIDS is supporting several studies on the
association of immunogenetic markers with HIV infection and HIV disease. Our Multi-
Center AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) group has identified one HLA marker that is strongly
associated with rapid HIV disease progression. In collaboration with the NCI, the
MACS investigators are also looking at the association of AIDS with other genetic
markers.

We are also planning to look at the HLA types associated with perinatal transmission
in our Women and Infants Transmission Study (WITS). The WITS is a consortium of
investigators similar to the MACS but focused on perinatal transmission. Dr. Mary
Claire King of the University of California, Berkeley, is a collaborator and
consultant on these studies. In addition, Drs. Stephen O’Brien and Dean Mann of the
NCI’s Laboratory of Viral Carcinogenesis are developing similar studies with the WITS
cohorts.

I am not certain if our program staff and the WITS investigators can accommodate any
additional collaborations considering the commitments to the above mentioned studies.
If you would like to pursue such a collaboration, however, you could contact Dr.
Rodney Hoff in the NIAID Division of AIDS who is responsible for the WITS studies.
Page 2 - Letter to Dr. Rubinstein

Dr. Hoff can be reached at the following address and telephone number:

Dr. Rodney Hoff

Chief, Women and Children's Section
Epidemiology Branch, Division of AIDS, NIAID
Control Data Buliding, Room 240P

Bethesda, MD 20892

Phone: (301) 496-6177

Best regards.

   
 

mes C. Hill, Ph.D.

Deputy Director,

National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases

cc: Dr. Anthony S. Fauci
Dr. Rodney Hoff
Dr. Joshua Lederberg