# Biomarkers of Drug-induced Kidney Injury in HIV

> **NIH NIH K23** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2020 · $198,458

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
This is a resubmission of a K23 application for Dr. Vasantha Jotwani, a nephrologist at the University of
California, San Francisco. Dr. Jotwani is establishing herself as a young investigator in patient-oriented clinical
research of biomarkers and drug-induced kidney injury in HIV-infected and uninfected individuals. Her goal is
to
become a leading clinical investigator in the utilization of novel kidney biomarkers for the detection of
nephrotoxicity.
This K23 award will provide Dr. Jotwani with the support necessary to accomplish the following
goals: 1) to become an expert at patient-oriented clinical research on novel biomarkers and drug-induced
kidney injury; 2)
to gain expertise in advanced statistical methods for cohort analyses; 3) to become proficient
in the evaluation of biomarker performance; 4) to implement biomarker measures in a prospective clinical
study; and 5) to develop an independent clinical research career.
To achieve these goals, Dr. Jotwani has
assembled a multidisciplinary mentorship team comprised of a primary mentor, Dr. Michael Shlipak,
a
renowned expert on biomarkers for kidney disease diagnosis and prognostication, and the following additional
mentors and advisors: Dr. Phyllis Tien, an authority on the long-term consequences of HIV infection; Dr. Chirag
Parikh, an international leader in biomarkers of acute kidney injury; Dr. Eric Vittinghoff, an applied statistician in
epidemiologic and clinical research studies; and Dr. Albert Liu, who has expertise in the implementation of HIV
prevention strategies. Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF), a widely prescribed antiretroviral medication for HIV
treatment and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), has been associated with the development of acute kidney
injury and chronic kidney disease. However, current clinical measures lack sensitivity and specificity for the
detection of TDF-associated nephrotoxicity. Dr. Jotwani proposes to utilize novel urine biomarkers of tubular
and mitochondrial damage to identify and monitor kidney injury in HIV-infected and uninfected persons who are
receiving TDF. In Aim 1, she will measure the novel urine biomarkers longitudinally following TDF initiation to
characterize the onset and progression of kidney damage in HIV-infected participants of the Women's
Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) and the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS); then, she will compare these
markers with existing clinical measures of tubular health. In Aim 2, she will evaluate whether the integration of
biomarkers with clinical factors can improve long-term prognostication of kidney disease risk among HIV-
infected TDF users in WIHS and MACS. Finally, Aim 3 will apply the most promising biomarkers from Aims 1
and 2 to investigate the impact of PrEP on kidney injury in the PrEP-T Demonstration Project, a prospective
clinical study of HIV-uninfected transgender persons who will initiate PrEP with TDF/emtricitabine through the
San Francisco Department of Public Health. ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9951037
- **Project number:** 5K23DK109868-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Vasantha Kolavennu Jotwani
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $198,458
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-15 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9951037

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9951037, Biomarkers of Drug-induced Kidney Injury in HIV (5K23DK109868-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9951037. Licensed CC0.

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