Current treatments for HIV allow people with the disease to live longer than ever before. Yet, this extension of life can often mean that individuals may experience other medical problems.
“They (people who are diagnosed with HIV) show early symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease,” said Habibeh Khoshbouei, an associate professor of neuroscience at UF’s College of Medicine. “If (a) normal population shows this in their 70s and 80s, HIV-infected people show it much earlier.”
The collection of neurological disorders that have been frequently documented in the HIV-positive population is called NeuroAIDS, Khoshbouei said. The disorders include Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson's.
Researchers are studying how the longer lifespan of HIV-positive patients is associated with NeuroAIDS, Khoshbouei said.
In her lab, researchers study dopamine transmission. This month, they published a study in Glia, a peer-reviewed journal, exploring a protein that affects dopamine in the brain.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that allows us to begin movements and perform tasks, like eating, that result in reward, UF doctoral student Doug Miller said.
When a person’s dopamine levels are out of the normal range, it means they will not move or behave normally, Miller said.
The UF study, which used mice, found that a protein associated with those who are HIV positive, the HIV-1 Tat protein, reduces the level of a different protein, tyrosine hydroxylase, Miller said. Tyrosine hydroxylase is required for the production of dopamine.
This HIV-1 Tat protein in effect limits dopamine production in the brain.
Funding for this study came in part from grants from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, according to the journal article.
Their findings complement other studies that point out a need to focus on neurological-based treatments in the future, Miller said.
“That will allow a person to have a much more normal life for an extended period of time,” Miller said.
Follow Gillian Sweeney on Twitter @gilliangsweeney and contact her atgsweeney@alligator.org.
