Category Archives: News

This post originally appeared on the NIAID NIH website. To see the original article, click here. 

Today marks not just a time to exchange valentines and chocolates, but also the midpoint of American Heart Month. Did you know people living with HIV are at an increased risk of experiencing cardiovascular disease? Fortunately, NIH-supported research is getting to the heart of the problem.

Effective anti-HIV medications dramatically reduced the number of AIDS-related deaths in the United States. However, because people with HIV are now able to live longer than before, cardiovascular disease has emerged as a leading cause of death among people living with HIV. In fact, studies have shown that a person living with HIV is up to twice as likely as someone who does not have HIV to experience a heart attack or stroke—even when the virus is well controlled with antiretroviral therapy.

How can a disease of the immune system affect the heart? Scientists at the NIH and elsewhere have observed that HIV infection, even in people with HIV whose infection is well-controlled with antiretroviral therapy, leads to persistent immune system activity in a person’s body. This chronic activation can lead to both a surplus of clotting compounds and inflamed blood vessels. Left unchecked, these factors increase an individual’s risk of a life-threatening heart attack or stroke.

This effect can be exacerbated by traditional risk factors for heart disease, such as smoking, an unhealthy diet, inactivity and a family history of cardiovascular problems. So, it is especially important for people living with HIV to eat well, stay active, avoid tobacco and know their family health history.

To see if the risk can be decreased further, NIAID and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, both parts of NIH, launched the Randomized Trial to Prevent Vascular Events in HIV, or REPRIEVE, in April 2015. The study plans to enroll at least 6,500 participants between the ages of 40 and 75 to determine if a daily dose of a cholesterol-lowering statin can reduce the risk of heart disease in people living with HIV who would not normally be prescribed a statin based on traditional methods of estimating cardiovascular disease risk.

The first large clinical trial to do so, REPRIEVE is investigating a strategy to prevent HIV-related heart disease in the United States and internationally. By collecting data from volunteers throughout the world, REPRIEVE seeks to expand our knowledge of how HIV and heart disease are related, and how men and women living with HIV can continue to live well into their 60s, 70s and beyond.

Learn more about the REPRIEVE trial:

February 2, 2018, CDC – Non-Hispanic blacks/African Americans (blacks) represent 12% of the U.S. population.* However, in 2014 an estimated 43% (471,500) of persons living with diagnosed and undiagnosed human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection were blacks (1). In 2016, blacks accounted for 44% of all new HIV diagnoses (2). Although antiretroviral therapy (ART) prescriptions among persons in HIV care increased overall from 89% in 2009 to 94% in 2013, fewer blacks than Hispanics or Latinos (Hispanics) and non-Hispanic whites (whites) were on ART and had a suppressed viral load (<200 HIV RNA copies/mL) in their most recent viral load test result (3). Blacks also might be less likely to have sustained viral suppression over time and to experience longer periods with viral loads >1,500 HIV RNA copies/mL, a level that increases the risk for transmitting HIV (4–7). National HIV Surveillance System (NHSS) data are among those used to monitor progress toward reaching the national goal of reducing health disparities. CDC analyzed NHSS data to describe sustained viral suppression and transmission risk potential by race/ethnicity. Among 651,811 persons with HIV infection diagnosed through 2013 and who were alive through 2014 in 38 jurisdictions with complete laboratory reporting, a lower percentage of blacks had sustained viral suppression (40.8%), than had Hispanics (50.1%) and whites (56.3%). Among persons who were in care (i.e., had at least one viral load test in 2014) and had not achieved sustained viral suppression in 2014, blacks experienced longer periods (52.1% of the 12-month period) with viral loads >1,500 copies/mL, than did Hispanics (47.2%) and white (40.8%). Blacks aged 13–24 years had the lowest prevalence of sustained viral suppression, a circumstance that might increase transmission risk potential. Strengthening interventions that improve access to ART, promote adherence, and address barriers to clinical care and supportive services for all persons with diagnosed HIV infection is important for achieving the national goal of reducing health disparities…

(Full Article)

A new report has estimated that almost 700,000 LGBT adults (ages 18-59) in the U.S. have received conversion therapy while an estimated 20,000 LGBT youth in the U.S. (ages 13-17) will receive conversion therapy from a licensed health care professional before the age of 18. Conversion therapy is meant to change the sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression of an individual, rooted in the idea that being LGBT is abnormal.

The new report out of The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law dives into the history of conversion therapy that has been in practice for over a century in the United States, current perspectives of professional health associations and the public opinion, as well as current laws in place. There are currently nine states and the District of Columbia that has legally limited the use of conversion therapy: California, D.C., Illinois, New Jersey, Vermont, Oregon, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Nevada, and New Mexico with the latter four states passing bans in 2017.

To see the full report, you can download it below or visit the original article on the Williams Institute website.

NIH clinical trial is testing antibody against the protein in people with HIV.

For the first time, scientists have shown a relationship between the proportion of key immune cells that display high levels of a gut-homing protein called alpha-4 beta-7 at the time of HIV infection and health outcomes. Previous research illustrated this relationship in monkeys infected with a simian form of HIV.

The new study found that women who had more CD4+ T cells displaying high levels of alpha-4 beta-7 on their surface were more likely to become infected with HIV, and the virus damaged their immune systems more rapidly, than women with fewer such cells. The National Institutes of Health co-funded the study with the South African Medical Research Council as part of the U.S.–South Africa Program for Collaborative Biomedical Research. In addition, NIH scientists collaborated on the study. The report appears online today in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

“Our findings suggest…”

(Full Article)

Clinical trial will compare three antiretroviral drug regimens.

(Full Article)

A short-term pause in HIV treatment during a carefully monitored clinical trial does not lead to lasting expansion of the HIV reservoir nor cause irreversible damage to the immune system, new findings suggest.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) benefits the health of people living with HIV, prolongs their lives and prevents transmission of the virus to others. If taken daily as directed, ART can reduce viral load — the amount of HIV in the blood — to levels that are undetectable with standard tests. However, the virus remains dormant in a small number of immune cells, and people living with HIV must take ART daily to keep the virus suppressed. If a person with ART-suppressed HIV stops taking medication, viral load will almost invariably rebound to high levels….

(Full Article)