Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

With the availability of antiretroviral therapy for HIV infected individuals, HIV infection has become a chronic disease. As a result HIV-infected individuals are facing a new set of challenges such as increased rates of cardiovascular disease, stroke, kidney and liver disease, many of which are more typical of an aging population. It has been shown that HIV-infected individuals compared to uninfected persons have higher levels of inflammation markers. For example, treated HIV-infected adults have about 50-100% higher concentrations of the inflammatory marker called IL-6 than do well matched uninfected adults. Leakage of microbial products from the gut into the blood stream (called microbial translocation), as a result of damage to the wall of the gut caused by inflammatory responses to HIV, may be one of the major causes of the inflammation that drives immune dysfunction even in the presence of HIV treatment. This persistent inflammation state has been linked to rapid aging in HIV-infected individuals. We have shown that the cholesterol lowering medications such as atorvastatin not only can reduce inflammation but also reduce HIV replication. Thus, the anti-inflammatory drugs such as Mesalazine and atorvastatin could allow the gut to heal, reduce inflammation, and thereby diminish systemic immune activation. These studies may direct us to new therapeutic options to reverse the inflammatory state, and thus, benefit the health of HIV-infected individuals by preventing accelerated aging.