HIV/Malaria Coinfection Effects on Immune Dysfunction and the Blood-Brain Barrier

描述（由研究人员提供）：每年有5亿人感染疟疾，100万人死于疟疾，其中大多数死于非洲儿童的脑型疟疾。在撒哈拉以南非洲，大约有2 440万人感染艾滋病毒，其中包括200万儿童。因此，数百万人有可能同时感染艾滋病毒和疟疾，一种感染对另一种感染的病程的影响可能对全球健康产生影响。艾滋病毒和疟疾都与宿主的免疫系统独特地相互作用，导致免疫细胞的复杂激活，以及随后严格调节的细胞因子和抗体的产生。虽然早期基于人群的研究表明，艾滋病毒阳性和阴性疟疾患者之间的结果没有差异，但最近的研究表明，艾滋病毒感染者更频繁地发生症状性疟疾，而艾滋病毒感染者的疟疾会增加艾滋病毒血症并减少CD4+ T细胞。合并感染对中枢神经系统病理学（包括脑型疟疾和HIV相关神经认知障碍）的影响尚不清楚。 我们假设艾滋病毒和疟疾合并感染加剧了宿主的免疫反应，这种免疫失调解释了疾病临床谱的差异。在这项提案中，我们将使用已建立的体外和体内实验模型来研究共同感染导致免疫失调的机制，以及这如何影响内皮激活和血脑屏障功能。

DESCRIPTION (provided by investigator): Each year, 500 million are infected and 1 million die because of malaria, with most deaths due to cerebral malaria in African children. In sub-Saharan Africa, roughly 24.4 million people have HIV, including 2 million children. Thus, millions are at risk for coinfection with both HIV and malaria, and effects of one infection on the disease course of the other may have global health implications. HIV and malaria each interact with the host's immune system uniquely, resulting in complex activations of immune cells, and subsequent tightly regulated production of cytokines and antibodies. While early population-based studies showed no difference in outcomes between HIV-positive and negative individuals with malaria, more recent work suggests HIV-infected people have more frequent episodes of symptomatic malaria and malaria in those with HIV increases HIV viremia and decreases CD4+ T cells. The effects of co-infection on CNS pathology, including cerebral malaria and HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders, are not known. We hypothesize that HIV and malaria co-infection exacerbates the host immune response, and that this immune dysregulation explains differences in the clinical spectrum of disease. In this proposal, we will use established in vitro and in vivo experimental models to examine the mechanisms by which co-infection causes immune dysregulation and how this impacts endothelial activation and blood-brain barrier function.