Coronary Artery Plaque Composition and Severity Relate to the Inflammasome in People With Treated Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Samuel R Schnittman; Douglas W Kitch; Talia H Swartz; Tricia H Burdo; Kathleen V Fitch; Sara McCallum; Jacqueline M Flynn; Evelynne S Fulda; Marissa R Diggs; Jack T Stapleton; José L Casado; Jana Taron; Judith S Currier; Markella V Zanni; Carlos Malvestutto; Carl J Fichtenbaum; Judith A Aberg; Heather J Ribaudo; Michael T Lu; Pamela S Douglas; Steven K Grinspoon

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofad106

Coronary Artery Plaque Composition and Severity Relate to the Inflammasome in People With Treated Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2023 Mar 1;10(3):ofad106. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofad106. eCollection 2023 Mar.

Authors

Samuel R Schnittman^{1

2}, Douglas W Kitch³, Talia H Swartz⁴, Tricia H Burdo⁵, Kathleen V Fitch², Sara McCallum², Jacqueline M Flynn⁵, Evelynne S Fulda², Marissa R Diggs², Jack T Stapleton⁶, José L Casado⁷, Jana Taron^{8

9}, Judith S Currier¹⁰, Markella V Zanni², Carlos Malvestutto¹¹, Carl J Fichtenbaum¹², Judith A Aberg⁴, Heather J Ribaudo³, Michael T Lu⁸, Pamela S Douglas¹³, Steven K Grinspoon²

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
² Metabolism Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
³ Center for Biostatistics in AIDS Research, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
⁴ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.
⁵ Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Inflammation and Center for Neurovirology and Gene Editing, Temple University Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
⁶ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.
⁷ Department of Infectious Diseases, Ramon y Cajal Health Research Institute (IRyCIS), University Hospital Ramon y Cajal, Madrid, Spain.
⁸ Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
⁹ Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
¹⁰ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
¹¹ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
¹² Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
¹³ Duke Clinical Research Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, USA.

Abstract

Background: Inflammasome activation is increased in people with human immunodeficiency virus (PWH), but its relationship with coronary plaque is poorly understood in this setting.

Methods: In a large human immunodeficiency virus cardiovascular prevention cohort, relationships between caspase-1, interleukin (IL)-1β, and IL-18 and coronary plaque indices were assessed by multivariate logistic regression.

Results: Higher IL-18 and IL-1β were associated with Leaman score, an integrative measure of plaque burden and composition.

Conclusions: As Leaman score >5 is associated with cardiovascular events in the general population, future work is needed to determine how the inflammasome relates to events and whether strategies to reduce its activation affect events or plaque progression among PWH.

Keywords: HIV; Leaman score; atherosclerosis; inflammasome.

Abstract

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