Our parent grant has been awarded for studying HIV associated human oral mucosal immune dysfunction using in vitro HIV tonsil cell system (Aim 1-parent grant) and HIV+ patient derived cells (Aim 2-parent grant). Our current proposal involves a new aim where we hypothesize that oral immune cell dysregulation that we observed in HIV+ patients might correlate with metabolite changes in saliva derived from HIV+ patients. This sub-project, in the context of the parent grant will lead to new ways of thinking about oral inflammation in HIV+ individuals, and aid in generating novel therapeutic strategies to manage HIV mediated chronic inflammation and cancer.
