Investigating inflammatory machinery in glia and the role of mirna on exposure to inflammatory agents

Abstract

Anti-Retroviral Therapy successfully reduces the replicating virus in the HIV-1 infected patients blood and replenish the CD4+ T-cell count back to normal. This sudden replenishment of immune system in the previously immune suppressed HIV-1 infected individuals causes adverse immunological conditions such as Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome (IRIS). This condition affects the human retina and causes Immune Recovery Uveitis (IRU). We investigated why does IRIS affect only a sub-population of patients. To this end we studied the mechanism of the development of IRIS in these patients. Key questions a) miRNA as biomarker in IRU patients. b) Exploring regulatory roles of miRNAs in HIV-1 patients during inflammation. Discovering biomarkers for the prediction of IRU may help high-risk HIV-1 patients to be benefited from specific preventive strategies. This also helps to elucidate the mechanism of immune reconstitution associated pathogenesis and facilitates the development of specific therapies. Although clinical features of IRU was well-established, specific diagnostic tools to identify at-risk patients are yet to be developed. In this study, the role of miRNAs in the development of inflammatory machinery in HIV-1 affected patients with and without ocular manifestations were investigated. newline