Inflammation and Cardiovascular Health in Women

Systemic immune activation and inflammation are believed to play a significant role in the development and clinical course of myocardial infarction (MI). Among women with HIV (WHIV), heightened systemic immune activation and inflammation persist, even when HIV infection is well-treated with contemporary antiretroviral therapeutic regimens. Moreover, WHIV in high-resource regions face a three-fold increased risk of myocardial infarction as compared with matched non-HIV-infected women. The goals of this study are to better understand ways in which HIV infection-incited systemic immune activation and inflammation augment MI risk among women.

The goals of this study are to better understand ways in which HIV infection-incited systemic immune activation and inflammation augment MI risk among women. To this end, WHIV and non-HIV-infected women will undergo structural and functional cardiovascular imaging studies (Cardiac PET, 99mTc-tilmanocept SPECT/CT, Contrast Enhanced Coronary and Aortic Computed Tomography Angiography) as well as vascular, metabolic/hormonal, and immune phenotyping. Measures of immune activation, arterial inflammation, and cardiovascular pathology will be compared between groups and interrelationships between these parameters will be assessed among WHIV.