application's abstract): This application requests funds to allow the principal investigator, Dr. Peter Anton, to pursue clinical research on the quantification of mucosal viral loads and the characterization of mononuclear cells present in focal infections of HIV-1 in the intestinal mucosa. This work is based on newly developed methods in Dr. Anton's group to reproducibly isolate mucosal lympoid tissue. There are three specific aims.
In Aim 1, Dr. Anton will continue with the optimization of the technique for isolation and characterization of mucosal lymphoid tissue to test the hypothesis that HIV infection is associated with mucosal inflammation. This part of the application will focus on the isolation of mononucelar cells and on quantitative methods to measure tissue RNA/DNA for HIV-1.
In Aim 2, a study will be carried out to examine the correlation between CCR5 co-receptor expression and enhanced susceptibility to infection with HIV-1. Additionally, the relationship between HIV infection and D- chemokine expression (as a marker of inflammation) will be sought to test this hypothesis.
In Aim 3, a clinical study will be executed to test the hypothesis that inflammation is a clinically significant feature of HIV persistence. This will be done by looking for decreased mucosal viral burden and evidence of immune reconstitution after therapeutic intervention.
