# Effects of Targeting Immune Activation and Intestinal Barrier on Comorbidities in People with HIV

> **NIH NIH K24** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2024 · $206,283

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
People living with HIV infection have increased risk of comorbidities including cardiovascular disease, obesity
and diabetes mellitus, despite effective antiretroviral therapy. Emerging evidence show that residual persistent
immune dysregulation contributes to comorbidities in the HIV population. Cardiovascular disease and
metabolic disorders are important comorbidities affecting people aging with HIV. The NIH K24 Midcareer
Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research would provide crucial support to enable advancement of my
patient-oriented research into mechanisms and potential prevention and treatment strategies for
atherosclerosis and metabolic diseases including obesity, abnormal adipose tissue, insulin resistance and
diabetes mellitus in people with HIV. I currently lead multidisciplinary teams and our interdisciplinary studies
with rich collaborations with HIV virologists, immunologists, infectious disease clinical trialists, cardiologists,
gastroenterologists, pathologists, and biostatisticians provide an exciting research platform for mentoring.
Importantly, the support of the K24 Award would allow me to have dedicated and protected time to mentor new
physician scientists in clinical investigation. This award would also allow me to develop my own skills in
mentoring, leadership and research, and to advance scientific research on comorbidities in people with HIV,
especially metabolic and cardiovascular comorbidities related to chronic immune inactivation in people living
with chronic HIV. Mentoring training will be provided utilizing my NIH funded studies to provide trainees with
opportunities to 1) investigate gastrointestinal mucosal barrier in people with HIV and its role in chronic
inflammation, immune activation and cardiovascular disease risk using existing data and intestinal biopsy
samples already collected and 2) to prospectively investigate the effects of CCR2 and CCR5 chemokine
receptor antagonism on immune activation, cardiovascular disease risk and metabolism in a multicenter
placebo-controlled, double-blind, 24-week long, randomized trial of cenicriviroc vs. placebo in adult men and
women living with HIV with suppressed HIV-1 RNA on stable ART who have increased CVD risk. This study
will leverage the clinical trial infrastructure of the ACTG and the extensive scientific expertise of collaborating
investigators and laboratories within the ACTG and provide rich training experiences for my mentees in patient
oriented clinical trial research.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10924678
- **Project number:** 1K24AI177089-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Janet Lo
- **Activity code:** K24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $206,283
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-16 → 2029-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10924678

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10924678, Effects of Targeting Immune Activation and Intestinal Barrier on Comorbidities in People with HIV (1K24AI177089-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10924678. Licensed CC0.

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