Journal of Neurovirology | March 5, 2021

Anteraper SA, Gopinath K, Hoch MJ, Waldrop-Valverde D, Franklin D, Letendre SL, Whitfield-Gabrieli S and Anderson AM

Journal of neurovirology. 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13365-021-00943-7

Abstract

Central nervous system (CNS) sequelae continue to be common in HIV-infected individuals despite combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). These sequelae include HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND) and virologic persistence in the CNS. Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) is a widely used tool to examine the integrity of brain function and pathology. In this study, we examined 16 HIV-positive (HIV+) subjects and 12 age, sex, and race matched HIV seronegative controls (HIV−) whole-brain high-resolution rsfMRI along with a battery of neurocognitive tests. A comprehensive data-driven analysis of rsfMRI revealed impaired functional connectivity, with very large effect sizes in executive function, language, and multisensory processing networks in HIV+ subjects. These results indicate the potential of high-resolution rsfMRI in combination with advanced data analysis techniques to yield biomarkers of neural impairment in HIV.