# Long-term consequences of HIV in the Kidney

> **NIH NIH P01** · BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE · 2021 · $1,832,641

## Abstract

Summary (OVERALL)
The introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the mid-1990's has had a dramatic impact on the natural
history of HIV infection and HIV-associated nephropathy (HIVAN). While the overall mortality and the incidence
of ESRD attributed to HIVAN has decreased, the incidence of all cause ESRD among HIV-infected patients
has not changed and remains significantly higher than that observed in the general population. With prolonged
survival and aging of the HIV population, non-AIDS complications including kidney disease have emerged as
major contributors to morbidity and mortality and continue to disproportionately affect individuals of African
origin. The latter can at least partially be explained by the strong association of single nucleotide
polymorphisms (SNP) in APOL1 with idiopathic and HIV-associated FSGS in African- Americans, although the
mechanism remains unknown. This Program Project Grant will investigate the long-term consequences of
chronic HIV infection on the kidney including contribution to chronic kidney disease, critical host factors that
influence that interaction as well as the role the kidney plays as a long-term, potentially latent reservoir for the
virus that could drive chronic inflammation. Critical observations made in the prior funding cycle have
contributed to the work proposed including the observation that HIV infection accelerates the progression
of kidney disease in the setting of diabetes and that HIV completes a virus life cycle in the kidney, induces
inflammation and in the kidney and can become latent in a subset of renal tubule epithelial cells. Key
Inflammatory pathways induced by HIV have been defined in renal tubule epithelial cells and in podocytes
providing insights for possible interventions that will be explored. New preliminary data in the HIV transgenic
murine model has demonstrated an interaction between host microbiome and kidney pathogenesis. Through
three highly interactive projects (and two linked RO-1s) and four essential cores, with investigators that have a
strong track record of collaboration, we will explore the hypothesis that chronic infection with HIV, even under
complete viral suppression, has long-term consequences in the kidney, both by promoting CKD (Project 4) and
by providing a long-term reservoir for the virus that promotes chronic inflammation (Project 2 and linked RO-1)
and that critical host factors influence these consequences including APOL1 variants (linked RO-1) and host
microbiome (Project 3). Engineered transformed and primary cells, transgenic murine models and human
samples provided by Core C with biopsy histopathology determined by the histopathology Core (B) will be
used to explore the hypotheses proposed. An informatics Core (D) will provide critical and innovative analyses
of in vitro and in vivo derived data sets. A multi-modality communications and data sharing plan will allow
continuous review of data and sharing of experimental approaches and data ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10155087
- **Project number:** 5P01DK056492-21
- **Recipient organization:** BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** John Cijiang He
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $1,832,641
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1999-09-15 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10155087

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10155087, Long-term consequences of HIV in the Kidney (5P01DK056492-21). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10155087. Licensed CC0.

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