Current HIV Research最新文献

Background: Hebei, a province with a low Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevalence, is also a region with the most abundant HIV-1 genetic diversity. HIV-1 recombinant forms have been the key factor influencing the effectiveness of HIV-1 control and therapy.

Objectives: We aimed to study inter-subtype recombinant structures of new HIV-1-second generation recombinant forms.

Methods: Monitoring the HIV-1 subtype by phylogenetic and recombinant breakpoint analyses are the two most frequent methods among men who have sex with men (MSM). Here, three near full-length genomes (NFLGs) were obtained from HIV-1 seropositive MSM in Shijiazhuang City, China, who have never received antiretroviral therapy in 2021.

Results: Phylogenetic analysis indicated that three NFLGs were novel inter-subtype recombinant forms between CRF07_BC and CRF01_AE. For the NFLG 21S009, four CRF07_BC gene fragments were inserted into the pol, vif-vpr, vpu-env, and nef-3` LTR gene regions within a CRF01_ AE backbone, respectively. For the NFLG 21S095, four breakpoints were identified in HIV-1 pol and vpu regions. The NFLG 21S370 contained four gene recombinant breakpoints within HIV-1 pol and vpu-env gene regions. Of these three NFLGs, the NFLG 21S009 contained the most breakpoints, distributed in the pol, vif, vpr, vpu, env, and nef regions, respectively. In the gag-pol regions, three NFLGs had only one CRF07_BC gene fragment inserted into gene points between 4250 and 4792.

Conclusion: Our findings provide strong evidence that the surveillance of novel recombinant forms is necessary for the increase in better control of HIV.

Background: Since the beginning of the HIV epidemic, the virus has taken millions of lives worldwide. The United Nations AIDS Fund's statistics reported that deaths caused by HIVrelated conditions and AIDS were about 39 million from the beginning of the epidemic to 2015. The united global efforts to fight the virus are considerably changing the indicators, such as mortality and morbidity, but the challenges remain. The total number of people living with HIV in Bulgaria as of 12th May, 2015, was 2,121. As of 30th November, 2016, the official data reported 2 460 people living with HIV. As of 13th February, 2017, 2 487 individuals were HIV-seropositive. Approximately 60% of people with HIV are prone to developing cognitive impairment due to the infection.

Objective: This study aimed to know the level of cognitive deficiency, in particular, the verbal and semantic fluency of people living with HIV and AIDS.

Methods: In this study, a comparative analysis was carried out. The Stewart test was used to compare the average independent samples. For clarity, the average values, the test statistics, and the estimated significance levels are presented in the tables. Additionally, a statistical mechanism of factor selection was used by the forward stepwise method. The Wilks' Lambda statistic reported values between 0 and 1, with values close to zero indicating good discrimination of the model.

Results: According to this research, the HIV positives participants generated fewer verbs than the ones from the control group. The data were partially confirmed by the present study. There were differences in terms of both adjectives and nouns among people living with HIV and AIDS.

Conclusion: The study data proves that language deficits are detectable in neurocognitive testing of HIV. The overall hypothesis of the study has been confirmed. The language impairments are primarily qualitative and can be used as a marker for the initial and subsequent therapy assessment.

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become a significant cause of mortality and morbidity in people living with HIV.

Objective: We aimed to investigate NAFLD presence by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods, including MRI-derived proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) and MRE, and ultrasound elastography among Turkish people living with HIV (PLWH), and identify factors correlated with fatty liver.

Methods: We included 57 PLWH attending outpatient clinics on antiretroviral therapy (ART) for more than six months, without HBV/HCV co-infection, significant alcohol consumption, active opportunistic infection, previously diagnosed hepatobiliary disease, T2DM, and hyperlipidemia. We performed MRI, MRE, and US elastography on all participants.

Results: The mean age of the participants (M/F, 47/10) was 41.7± 12 years. The median duration of HIV infection was 3 (0.5-19 years) years. The mean MRI-PDFF was 4.4 ± 3.8 %, and 11 had fatty liver. The mean MRE value was 2.27 ± 0.6 kPa, inflammation was present in 16, and 4 participants had values consistent with fibrosis. The mean US elastography of the study population was 4.1±2.4 kPa. The mean right and left CCA intima-media of the study population was 0.65± 0.23 mm and 0.66± 0.25 mm; 16 had increased intima-media thickness. In patients with fatty liver, a significant positive correlation was present between MRE and CCA intima-media thickness (rs=0.82, p:0.006 for MRE-left CCA; r=0.68, p=0.042 for MRE-right CCA).

Conclusion: We demonstrated that even a significant proportion of PLWH individuals with normal transaminase levels have fatty liver. Future prospective trials are warranted to understand and mitigate the risk factors, course of NAFLD, and accurate non-invasive tests, predicting fibrosis in people living with HIV.

Background: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome and fracture are all serious hazards to human health that create a widespread alarm. Biomarkers that are closely linked to HIVRNA and fracture are unknown.

Methods: 48 cases with HIV and fracture and 112 normal cases were recruited. Blood neutrophil count (NEU), white blood cell count (WBC), PAK1 and HIVRNA were measured. Pearson's chisquared test was used to evaluate the association between HIVRNA with fracture and NEU, WBC, PAK1. BP neural network model was constructed to analyze the predictive power of the combined effects of NEU, WBC, PAK1 for HIV RNA with fracture.

Results: There exist strong correlations between PAK1, NEU, WBC and HIVRNA with fracture. The neural network model was successfully constructed. The overall determination coefficients of the training sample, validation sample, and test sample were 0.7235, 0.4795, 0.6188, 0.6792, respectively, indicating that the fitting effect between training sample and overall was good. Statistical determination coefficient of the goodness of fit R² ≈ 0.82, it can be considered that degree of fit between the estimate and corresponding actual data is good.

Conclusion: HIVRNA with fracture could be predicted using a neural network model based on NEU, WBC, PAK1. The neural network model is an innovative algorithm for forecasting HIVRNA levels with fracture.

Background: Finding a cure for HIV is challenged by persisting reservoirs, the mapping of which necessitates invasive procedures. Inviting people with HIV (PWHIV) at the end of life to donate body specimens post-mortem through research autopsies is a novel approach, raising ethical concerns.

Objective: This case study aims to explore the motivations, barriers, and facilitators of a terminally-ill Canadian PWHIV who requested medical assistance in dying (MAID) and expressed interest in donating his body for HIV cure research.

Case presentation: An in-depth 3-hour and semi-structured interview was conducted with the participant. The interview transcription was thematically coded to identify motivations and perceived barriers and facilitators to participate in end-of-life HIV cure research. Our analysis identified six themes. Two themes expressed motivations: Collaboration in progress in health and science, seeing cure research as collaboration with professionals; and Opportunity to learn more, mostly about science and health. One theme expressed a barrier: Losing interest in or identification with long-term care research matters, especially those related to the management of long-term care. Three themes expressed by facilitators: Receiving information from professionals one trusts and knows, especially clinical and research teams; Perceiving research procedures as simple, useful, and embedded in care, perceiving clinical, educational, and interpersonal benefits that surpass costs of participation; and Perceiving research as one last way to contribute, that is, feeling useful or give back.

Conclusion: Several circumstances facilitated the patient's participation: being a single man, having time to participate, having no strong religious belief, and valuing clear, direct communication. His motivations to participate in HIV cure research were altruistic, and also an experience of working with clinical and research teams. Finally, this perspective highlights HIV cure research participant candidates' need for education about research procedures.

Background: Previous studies have implicated human adenovirus 36 (Adv36) as a potential contributor to overweight and obesity. People living with HIV have an altered body composition compared to healthy individuals. There is still no evidence to confirm the relationship of Adv36 as one of the causes of lipohypertrophy. The main objective of this study was to verify the viral Adv36 infection as a factor associated with the presence of lipohypertrophy in HIV-infected individuals.

Methods: A case-control study on people with HIV treated at a specialized public health service in southern Brazil. Subjects underwent interviews, diagnostic tests, and anthropometry to determine lipodystrophy and its classification. Demographic and clinical data were examined to investigate the presence of Adv36. The cases were participants with lipohypertrophy, and the controls were eutrophic participants.

Results: 101 participants were included (38 cases and 63 controls), and the frequency of Adv36 infection was 10.9%. There was a statistically significant association between lipohypertrophy and the female sex (p < 0.001), and a trend for the presence of Adv36 (p = 0.059) and lipohypertrophy. After adjustment for confounders, Adv36 has not considered an independent risk factor for lipohypertrophy. Lower levels of glucose were associated with Adv36 infection.

Conclusion: There was a significant association between lipohypertrophy and the female sex, and no association with lipohypertrophy and Adv36, perhaps due to the small sample size.

Introduction: Increasing evidence suggests that microRNAs (miRNAs) and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as attractive targets in viral infections, including Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Objective: To deepen the understanding of the molecular mechanisms that lead to HIV and provide potential targets for the future development of molecular therapies for its treatment.

Methods: Four miRNAs were selected as candidates based on a previous systematic review. A combination of bioinformatic analyses was performed to identify their target genes, lncRNAs and biological processes that regulate them.

Results: In the constructed miRNA-mRNA network, 193 gene targets are identified. These miRNAs potentially control genes from several important processes, including signal transduction and cancer. LncRNA-XIST, lncRNA-NEAT1 and lncRNA-HCG18 interact with all four miRNAs.

Conclusion: This preliminary result forms the basis for improving reliability in future studies to fully understand the role these molecules and their interactions play in HIV.

Introduction: Opportunistic infections caused by bacteria and fungi are common in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. Cryptococcus neoformans and Pneumocystis jirovecii are the most common opportunistic infections in immunosuppressed individuals, but their coexistence is rare. To our knowledge, this is the first case presented in Turkey involving the coexistence of C.neoformans fungemia and P.jirovecii pneumonia.

Case presentation: A 26-year-old male patient presented with a cachectic appearance, cough, sputum, weakness, shortness of breath, and a weight loss of 15 kg in the last three months. It was learned that the patient was diagnosed with HIV three years ago, did not go to follow-ups, and did not use the treatments. CD4 cell count was 7/mm3 (3.4%), CD8 cell count was 100 (54%) mm3, and HIV viral load was 5670 copies/mL. In thorax computed tomography (CT), increases in opacity in diffuse ground glass density in both lungs and fibroatelectasis in lower lobes were observed. With the prediagnosis of P. jiroveci pneumonia, the HIV-infected patient was given trimethoprim-- sulfamethoxazole 15 mg/kg/day intravenously (i.v.). On the 4th day of the patient's hospitalization, mutiplex PCR-based rapid syndromic Biofire (Film Array) blood culture identification 2 (BCID2) test (Biomerieux, France) was applied for rapid identification from blood culture. C. neoformans was detected in the blood culture panel. The treatment that the patient was taking with the diagnosis of C. neoformans fungemia was started at a dose of liposomal amphotericin B 5 mg/kg/- day + fluconazole 800 mg/day.

Conclusion: While the incidence of opportunistic infections has decreased with antiretroviral therapy (ART), it remains a problem in patients who are unaware of being infected with HIV or who fail ART or refuse treatment. High fungal burden, advanced age, low CD4+ cell count, and being underweight are risk factors for mortality in HIV-positive patients. Our case was a cachectic patient with a CD4 count of 7 cells/mm3. Despite the early and effective treatment, the course was fatal.

Natural products have been considered a potential resource for the development of novel therapeutic agents, since time immemorial. It is an opportunity to discover cost-effective and safe drugs at the earliest, with the goal to hit specific targets in the HIV life cycle. Natural products with inhibitory activity against human immunodeficiency virus are terpenes, coumarins, flavonoids, curcumin, proteins, such as lectins, laccases, bromotyrosines, and ribosome-inactivating proteins. Terpenes inhibit virus fusion, lectins and flavonoids have an inhibitory impact on viral binding, curcumin and flavonoids inhibit viral DNA integration. The most important medicinal plants which have been used in traditional Chinese medicinal sciences with anti-HIV properties are Convallaria majalis, Digitalis lanata, Cassia fistula, Croton macrostachyus, Dodonaea angustifolia, Ganoderma lucidum, Trametes versicolor, Coriolus versicolor, Cordyceps sinensis, Gardenia jasminoides, Morus alba, Scutellaria baicalensis, Ophiopogon japonicus, Platycodon grandiflorus, Fritillaria thunbergii, Anemarrhena asphodeloides, Trichosanthes kirilowii, Citrus reticulata, Glycyrrhiza uralensis, Rheum officinale, Poria cocos, Rheum palmatum, Astragalus membranaceus, Morinda citrifolia, Potentilla kleiniana, Artemisia capillaris, Sargassum fusiforme, Piperis longi fructus, Stellera chamaejasme, Curcumae rhizoma, Dalbergia odorifera lignum, Arisaematis Rhizoma preparatum, and Phellodendron amurense. The information provided is gathered from randomized control experiments, review articles, and analytical studies and observations, which are obtained from different literature sources, such as Scopus, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Science Direct from July 2000 to August 2023. The aim of this review article is to survey and introduce important medicinal plants and herbs that have been used for the treatment of HIV, especially the medicinal plants that are common in traditional Chinese medicine, as research to date is limited, and more evidence is required to confirm TCM,s efficacy.