{"id":102288,"date":"2023-08-28T01:58:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T06:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=102288"},"modified":"2024-03-27T09:37:53","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T14:37:53","slug":"dr-kanmogne-aims-to-reduce-aids-related-cognitive-impairment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/08\/28\/dr-kanmogne-aims-to-reduce-aids-related-cognitive-impairment\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Kanmogne’s focus: HIV-related cognitive impairment"},"content":{"rendered":"
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UNMC researcher Georgette Kanmogne, PhD, remembers what the statistics were like in her native country when the human immunodeficiency virus — more commonly known as HIV, the virus that causes AIDS \u2013 arrived in Cameroon more than three decades ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt that time, up to 40% of babies born to HIV-infected mothers acquired the deadly disease. Rapid progression to AIDS was common and many died,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow, because of advances in antiretroviral therapy, the rate of mother-to-child HIV transmission has decreased to below 2% in developed countries and below 17% in many sub-Saharan African countries,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, many babies born to infected mothers who are on antiretroviral therapy are not infected at birth and can live a long healthy life, she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Kanmogne, a professor in the UNMC Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, is determined to improve the statistics even more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While antiretroviral drug therapy has significantly increased the life expectancy of HIV-infected adults, making HIV more of a chronic disease, up to 50% of those individuals develop behavioral, motor and cognitive abnormalities referred to as HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND), Dr. Kanmogne said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNeurocognitive impairment is present in up to 50% of people infected with HIV and is often associated with similar brain pathologies as Alzheimer\u2019s Disease.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Autopsy studies of HIV-infected patients that developed HAND showed Alzheimer\u2019s-like brain pathologies, including increased brain amyloid-beta production and aggregation, amyloid plaques, hyperphosphorylation of Tau protein and formation of neurofibrillary tangles-like structures in the brain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The causes of these brain pathologies and associated mechanisms are not known. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous research<\/a>, led by Dr. Kanmogne and published in the journal Molecular Neurodegeneration in 2021, showed that treatment with an antagonist of the C-C chemokine receptor type 5 (CCR5) significantly reduced HIV-induced Alzheimer\u2019s-like brain pathologies and protected the blood-brain barrier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe blood brain barrier is a complex and dynamic structure that acts as a biological interface between the blood and the brain and plays a critical role in maintaining CNS homeostasis,\u201d Dr. Kanmogne said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, Dr. Kanmogne received a five-year, $3.6 million R01 grant funded by the National Institutes of Health to investigate the molecular mechanisms regulating the protective effects of CCR5 antagonists and whether co- administration of antiretroviral drugs with the CCR5 antagonist maraviroc can prevent the formation of amyloid plaques and neurodegeneration that leads to cognitive impairments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy adding an already FDA approved CCR5 antagonist to the current antiretroviral regimens we hope to help prevent Alzheimer\u2019s disease-like brain pathologies and CNS complications that can develop following HIV infection,\u201d Dr. Kanmogne said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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