iMAN: Integrated Molecular & Affiliation Network Analysis of HIV Transmission

 描述(由申请人提供)：我们提出了一项研究，名为“IMAN：HIV传播的综合分子和联系网络分析”，它将分子系统学分析与系统科学方法相结合，以促进我们对人类免疫缺陷病毒(HIV)通过其传播的地点联系网络的理解。IMAN将根据正在进行的多站点纵向联系网络项目(YMAP：青年男子联系项目)的队列，在德克萨斯州休斯顿和伊利诺伊州芝加哥检查艾滋病毒风险最高的群体，即16岁至29岁的年轻黑人男性性行为者(YBMSM)。IMAN旨在通过引入一种新的方法来解决以生物学验证为基础的关于人类健康行为的基本问题，从而进一步提高从属关系网络分析的效用，以减轻与YBMSM有关的艾滋病毒感染率的种族/民族健康差异。YBMSM在各种环境中进行社交，无论是真实的还是虚拟的，这些场所可能涉及增加艾滋病毒/性传播感染(STI)感染风险的网络关系。从属关系网络分析可以作为一种方法工具，调查个人与危险社交场所的从属关系与艾滋病毒风险或预防之间的联系。然而，仅靠从属关系网络分析在提供扎根的结果方面存在局限性。因此，我们建议使用HIV病毒本身的生物标记物来验证我们的发现。IMAN将把系统发育技术应用于联系网络分析，以多层次的方法同时分析社会关系(流行病学信息)和分子病毒相关性(分子信息)。伊曼建议使用系统发育分析来帮助从不同的场馆隶属模式来描述基督教青年会内艾滋病毒感染的集群模式。IMAN的目标是通过使用最先进的分子流行病学方法确定不同城市感染艾滋病毒的YBMSM以地点为基础的聚集性，从而表征艾滋病毒传播的流行病学特征。将进一步研究产生的以地点为基础的遗传传播集群，以描述疫情在休斯顿和芝加哥的传播模式，并比较和对比这两个城市之间的模式。我们的具体目标是(1)通过识别(A)感染艾滋病毒的YBMSM之间的遗传集群(使用系统发育分析)和(B)基于场所的社会集群(使用从属网络分析)来识别HIV传播集群并描述疫情传播模式；(2)比较遗传集群和基于场所的社交集群以确定地方层面的基于场所的HIV风险。这项研究的结果预计将为发展基于场所的分子科学网络干预措施提供新的方向，并对以艾滋病毒/性传播感染风险最高的人为目标的网络干预措施产生影响。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose a study, "iMAN: integrated Molecular & Affiliation Network Analysis of HIV Transmission," which integrates molecular phylogenetic analysis with systems science methodologies to advance our understanding of the venue-based affiliation networks whereby the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is transmitted. iMAN will examine the highest HIV-risk group, young Black men who have sex with men (YBMSM) aged 16 to 29 in Houston, TX, and Chicago, IL, based on the cohorts of an ongoing multi-site longitudinal affiliation network project (YMAP: Young Men's Affiliation Project). iMAN aims to further advance the utility of affiliation network analysis by introducing a novel way of addressin fundamental questions about human health behavior, grounded in biological validation, to alleviate racial/ethnic health disparities in HIV-infection rates in regard to YBMSM. YBMSM socialize in a variety of contexts, both real and virtual, and these venues can involve network relationships that increase the risk of HIV/sexually-transmitted infections (STI) acquisition. Affiliation network analysis can serve as a methodological tool to investigate associations between individuals' affiliations with risky social venues and HIV risk or prevention. Affiliation network analysis alone, however, has limitations in providing grounded results. Thus, we propose to validate our findings using biological markers in the HIV virus itself. iMAN will apply phylogenetic techniques to the affiliation network analysis to simultaneously analyze social relations (epidemiology information) and molecular viral relatedness (molecular information) in a multi-level approach. iMAN proposes to use phylogenetic analysis to help characterize the clustering patterns of HIV infection within YBMSM from different patterns of venue affiliation. The objective of iMAN is to characterize the epidemiology of HIV transmission by identifying venue-based clustering of HIV-infected YBMSM across different cities using state-of-the-art molecular epidemiology methods. The resulting venue- based and genetic transmission clusters will be further examined to describe the transmission patterns of the epidemic in Houston and Chicago as well as to compare and contrast the patterns between the two cities. Our specific aims are to (1) identify HIV-transmission clusters and describe the patterns of epidemic spread by identifying (a) genetic clusters between HIV-infected YBMSM using phylogenetic analysis, and (b) venue- based social clusters using affiliation network analysis; (2) compare genetic clusters and venue-based social clusters to determine venue-based HIV risk at the local level. The findings from this research are expected to provide new directions for developing venue-based network interventions informed by molecular science and to have an impact on network interventions that target those most at risk of HIV/STI infection.