Grant: Fellowship - PA: Biomedical / Clinical HIV/AIDS Research

More than 33 million people are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) worldwide, including 30.8 million adults. Up to 50 percent of adults with chronic HIV infection have some form of cognitive impairment, including dementia. This study aims to look at a marker of cellular aging - telomeres - in people with HIV, comparing those with and without HIV-related cognitive impairment for telomere length. Telomeres are sequences of DNA found at the ends of chromosomes. Telomeres shorten with the life of a dividing cell. Disorders of telomeres, also known as the "telomeropathies," are associated with premature organ failure and aging. To date, there is limited information on telomeres in HIV-associated cognitive decline. We will take a well-studied cohort of volunteers with HIV who have donated blood every 6 months for approximately 7 years. This study is called the CNS HIV Anti-retroviral Therapy Effects Research (CHARTER) cohort and involves participants at 6 universities. We hope to discover whether loss of telomere length is an important marker of cognitive impairment in people with treated HIV. This information will be useful in understanding the mechanisms of HIV in the nervous system in aging individuals.