People with HIV (PWH) face an elevated risk for developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). Nevertheless, how HIV infection leads to CVD—and the influence exerted by associated factors such as chronic inflammation and antiretroviral therapy—is not fully understood.

In previous research of women enrolled in the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), Qibin Qi, Ph.D., and colleagues identified several gut bacteria and microbial metabolites associated with carotid artery atherosclerosis, an indicator of risk for CVD. The National Institutes of Health has now awarded Dr. Qi, Robert Burk, M.D., and Jorge Kizer, M.D., a four-year, $2.9 million grant to continue their research into the roles played by gut bacteria, HIV infection and multiple HIV-associated factors in causing CVD. Since the gut microbiota and related metabolic molecules can be influenced by interventions such as probiotics consumption, the research may lead to novel strategies for preventing CVD from developing in PWH.

Dr. Qi is an associate professor of epidemiology & population health and associate director of epidemiology & population health center for population cohorts at Einstein. Dr. Burk is professor of pediatrics, of microbiology & immunology, of epidemiology & population health, and of obstetrics & gynecology and women’s health at Einstein and is also a member of the National Cancer Institute-designated Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center (MECCC). Dr. Kizer is an adjunct clinical associate professor of epidemiology & population health and director of clinical cardiovascular research at Einstein and is a professor at the University of California San Francisco. (1R01HL170904)