HIV-Associated Immune Activation and Inflammation: Current Understanding and Future Perspectives

Dear Colleagues,

Despite the efficacy of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in controlling human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication, residual inflammation persists throughout the patient's lifetime. This can lead to immune exhaustion and contribute to several comorbidities observed in people living with HIV (PLWH) (i.e., cancers, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, dyslipidemia, chronic renal disease, etc.). All these downstream comorbidities are associated with an altered immune environment post-HIV infection. HIV can also drive neuro-inflammation, resulting in cognitive impairment. These outcomes could result from several factors, which have been the focus of research groups across the globe. Residual viremia in tissues has also been reported to contribute to persistent inflammation and immune impairment. To overcome these issues, several immune interventions have been developed and are undergoing pre-clinical and clinical testing. These strategies are very broad and involve the use of compounds, alone or in combination, to reactivate and kill the HIV reservoir (shock and kill); inactivate and lock the HIV reservoir (block and lock); reverse immune exhaustion; decrease systemic and neuro-inflammation; develop cell therapies for immune reconstitution and/or reservoir elimination; combine broadly neutralizing antibodies and immune-mediators; combine immune mediators, etc. Authors are invited to submit their original research, communications, and review articles to Biomedicines. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Strategies for the modulation of inflammation in PLWH;
• In vivo and in vitro models of immune modulation during HIV;
• HAND: HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder;
• Drivers of systemic inflammation in PLWH;
• Drivers of neuro-inflammation in PLWH;
• Strategies to modulate the HIV reservoir (activation, inactivation);
• Cellular therapies for HIV cure;
• The role of cytokines in HIV persistence and impaired immunity;
• Dissecting the mechanism of inflammation;
• Dissecting the mechanisms of viral persistence.

Dr. Susan Pereira Ribeiro
Guest Editor

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• HIV-associated immune activation
• inflammation
• neuro-inflammation
• immune interventions
• HIV reservoir
• tissue reservoirs