# Bone and fat cross-talk in antiretroviral therapy (ART) treated HIV patients

> **NIH NIH R01** · RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2023 · $175,644

## Abstract

Project Summary / Abstract
 The widespread use of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has significantly increased the lifespan of
people living with HIV (PLWH). As HIV has become a chronic disease, there is a growing concern of the
disproportionate risk of a variety of comorbidities. In our parent award, we are focused on two comorbidities
that occur at a higher prevalence in cART treated PLWH - bone loss and fat gain. Our proposal focuses on the
contribution of antiretrovirals to the development of these two conditions and utilizes a novel preclinical mouse
model of HIV infection and cART treatment and human subjects data from a large-scale NIH-funded cohort
study of PLWH. The current administrative supplement seeks to leverage these ongoing studies to extend our
efforts into pain research and to generate supporting evidence towards a future scientific direction in
pain research. Specifically, we seek to investigate musculoskeletal pain, which is a common concern of
PLWH in patient reported outcome studies. We will leverage our ongoing animal work to investigate the
biological mechanisms (Aim 1) and our ongoing collaboration with the MWCCS to obtain define the joint-
specific patterns of musculoskeletal pain in women living with HIV (Aim 2). If successful, the supplemental
aims will generate exciting new data on the prevalence and potential risk factors for musculoskeletal pain
development in PLWH and provide the PI with experience and preliminary data to further research pain
mechanisms in this vulnerable population. Importantly, the supplemental aims align with several areas of
scientific interest within NIAMS, including focusing on immune mechanisms of pain, making large data
sets relevant to pain research, and leveraging existing datasets for secondary analysis for pain
research.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10856307
- **Project number:** 3R01AR081151-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Ryan Dee Ross
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $175,644
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2022-09-01 → 2027-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10856307

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10856307, Bone and fat cross-talk in antiretroviral therapy (ART) treated HIV patients (3R01AR081151-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10856307. Licensed CC0.

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