# HIV latency driven microgliosis

> **NIH NIH R21** · ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI · 2022 · $253,500

## Abstract

Highly active antiretroviral therapy effectively targets viral replication but fails to eliminate proviruses in
long-lived cell populations. Our knowledge of HIV persistence in the human brain remains limited. Microglia are
the resident innate immune cells of the central nervous system. Our preliminary data indicate that HIV infection
of primary human microglia cells results in proliferation (termed microgliosis). Our reporter HIV vector
toolkit termed pMorpheus allows examination of latency establishment at the single cell level using
microscopy and flow cytometry approaches. We hypothesize that HIV infection induces microgliosis by
clonal expansion of latently infected microglia cells. This proposal leverages our pMorpheus based primary
human microglia model system to experimentally test this hypothesis. We propose to investigate productive
and latent HIV infections in depth in human primary microglia cells isolated from post-mortem brain
tissues (Aim 1) and to identify biomarkers and cellular rewiring characteristic of HIV associated
microgliosis (Aim 2). The experiments outlined in this high risk/high reward R21 application will not
only fill critical knowledge gaps in our understanding of HIV latency establishment in primary human
microglia cells but also inform on biomarkers of microgliosis and neuro-degeneration.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10618696
- **Project number:** 1R21MH131541-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI
- **Principal Investigator:** Viviana A Simon
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $253,500
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-07 → 2024-08-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10618696

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10618696, HIV latency driven microgliosis (1R21MH131541-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10618696. Licensed CC0.

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