The Manhattan HIV Brain Bank (MHBB), member of the National NeuroAIDS Tissue Consortium (NNTC), is a research resource committed to providing scientists with densely annotated, high quality biospecimens in support of neuroAIDS and AIDS research. Located in New York City, it conducts a longitudinal, observational neurologic, neuropsychologic, and psychiatric study with individuals who agree to be organ donors upon demise. While harmonizing its assessments and activities with other members of the NNTC, MHBB retains important and unique characteristics. MHBB is a predominantly minority cohort with excellent representation of underserved populations, including African Americans and Latinos of Caribbean origin; approximately half of MHBB participants are women; and the population overall displays a high frequency of medical and psychosocial co-morbidities that contribute to nervous system dysfunction. The cohort also has excellent representation of individuals with long-term viral suppression, suited to the support of research into viral reservoirs. In providing its biospecimen and data resources, MHBB implements standard NNTC protocols to synchronize the type and quality of materials provided to researchers with other NNTC clinical sites. However, MHBB has also created a variety of customized resources to better serve its clients, inclusive of providing digital slides and viewing software to enhance case selection and analysis; obtaining fresh blood samples from the cohort for functional assays, which when coupled with MHBB's extensive nervous system characterization, provide a cost efficient mechanism to accomplish translational neuroAIDS research; and performing specialized tissue dissections to create unique collections like the Brain Arterial Remodeling Study. MHBB is committed to fostering young scientists embarking on careers in neuroAIDS research, with past support of an R25 mechanism, and plans to promote F- and K- type awards utilizing its resources in the next funding period. MHBB maintains high quality standards for the information it collects, with mature, databank-assisted protocols for quality assurance on the local level, use of monthly data reports and annual audits provided by the NNTC coordinating center, and participation in all NNTC subcommittees to assure compliance with standardized NNTC assessments. With a relatively small and dedicated staff, MHBB is able to rapidly adapt to NNTC initiatives, as its organizational structure and standard operating procedures result in frequent communication between all levels and domains of expertise. In addition, MHBB utilizes the talents and expanded expertise of its scientific advisor and multiple collaborators, who provide a robust translational science environment to enhance the study's operations.

Public Health Relevance

Nervous system disorders are common in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), despite the ability to control HIV replication with combined antiretroviral therapies. One barrier to understanding whether HIV establishes a reservoir in the nervous system, and what causes neurologic disease, is a paucity of well characterized brain tissues from PLWHA. The Manhattan HIV Brain Bank, member of the National NeuroAIDS Tissue Consortium, was created to provide just such a research resource. It conducts a longitudinal study of PLWHA who are willing to be organ donors for research upon demise, and has created a biorepository of well-characterized nervous system and systemic tissues to assist neuroAIDS and AIDS researchers in translational studies to help find better therapies for HIV and nervous system disorders.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Resource-Related Research Projects--Cooperative Agreements (U24)
Project #
2U24MH100931-06
Application #
9534867
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZMH1)
Program Officer
Colosi, Deborah
Project Start
2013-05-01
Project End
2023-02-28
Budget Start
2018-03-01
Budget End
2019-02-28
Support Year
6
Fiscal Year
2018
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Department
Neurology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
078861598
City
New York
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
10029
Anderson, Ariana E; Jones, Jacob D; Thaler, Nicholas S et al. (2018) Intraindividual variability in neuropsychological performance predicts cognitive decline and death in HIV. Neuropsychology 32:966-972
Hunter, Madeleine D; Shenoy, Adele; Dwork, Andrew et al. (2018) Brain vascular intima vulnerability among HIV-positive and negative individuals. AIDS 32:2209-2216
Morgello, Susan; Jacobs, Michelle; Murray, Jacinta et al. (2018) Alzheimer's disease neuropathology may not predict functional impairment in HIV: a report of two individuals. J Neurovirol 24:629-637
Mukerji, Shibani S; Misra, Vikas; Lorenz, David R et al. (2018) Impact of Antiretroviral Regimens on Cerebrospinal Fluid Viral Escape in a Prospective Multicohort Study of Antiretroviral Therapy-Experienced Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1-Infected Adults in the United States. Clin Infect Dis 67:1182-1190
Gutierrez, Jose; Murray, Jacinta; Chon, Christina et al. (2018) Relationship between brain large artery characteristics and their downstream arterioles. J Neurovirol 24:106-112
Premeaux, Thomas A; D'Antoni, Michelle L; Abdel-Mohsen, Mohamed et al. (2018) Elevated cerebrospinal fluid Galectin-9 is associated with central nervous system immune activation and poor cognitive performance in older HIV-infected individuals. J Neurovirol :
Chettimada, Sukrutha; Lorenz, David R; Misra, Vikas et al. (2018) Exosome markers associated with immune activation and oxidative stress in HIV patients on antiretroviral therapy. Sci Rep 8:7227
Ginsberg, Stephen D; Alldred, Melissa J; Gunnam, Satya M et al. (2018) Expression profiling suggests microglial impairment in human immunodeficiency virus neuropathogenesis. Ann Neurol 83:406-417
Soontornniyomkij, Virawudh; Umlauf, Anya; Soontornniyomkij, Benchawanna et al. (2018) Association of antiretroviral therapy with brain aging changes among HIV-infected adults. AIDS 32:2005-2015
Shenoy, Adele; Dwork, Andrew; Elkind, Mitchell S V et al. (2018) Brain large artery lymphocytic inflammation and Human Immunodeficiency Virus-related brain arterial remodeling. J Virol :

Showing the most recent 10 out of 91 publications