This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites HIV/AIDS research projects within the mission of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) that address high priority topics as described in NOT-OD-15-137: NIH/HIV Research Priorities and Guidelines for Determining AIDS Funding. Topics not aligned with these priorities will not be supported by this FOA.
The NIDDK supports medical research on diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases, nutritional disorders, and obesity; and kidney, urologic, and hematologic diseases, to improve people’s health and quality of life. Systemic complications of HIV infection directly affect many of the organ systems and processes within the research mission of the NIDDK. Moreover, NIDDK-relevant organs and tissues play central roles in HIV establishment, spread, persistence, and transmission.
Comorbidities within NIDDK’s mission cause significant pathology and suffering in HIV-infected people. Important problems include enteropathy and loss of gastrointestinal homeostasis; liver diseases and viral hepatitis coinfections; kidney, urologic, and hematologic diseases: and the recently emerging problem of obesity, diabetes, and associated complications. Moreover, NIDDK-relevant pathogenic processes may contribute to HIV pathogenesis in other tissues and organ systems. For example, loss of intestinal epithelial barrier function associated with HIV-associated enteropathy may result in systemic inflammation that contributes to cardiovascular disease as well as comorbidities within NIDDK’s mission, including obesity or liver disease. Mechanistic interrogation of the processes whereby HIV infection or its treatment contributes to these comorbidities and coinfections is needed to identify and develop strategies for preventing and alleviating these pathologies.
Tissues and processes within the scope of NIDDK’s mission are also critical to other high priority HIV/AIDS research areas. These include the role of the male genital tract and gastrointestinal mucosa in HIV establishment, spread, and persistence; HIV-related gastrointestinal mucosal immune dysfunction; and other fundamental issues related to HIV prevention, cure, and treatment strategies. There is a great need to better understand these processes in both the male genital tract and the gastrointestinal mucosa to develop an effective cure for HIV as well as to effectively prevent transmission. Other tissues within NIDDK’s interest, such as adipose tissue and kidneys, also serve as important viral reservoirs that need to be addressed for the development of a cure.
Objectives and Scope
This funding opportunity is intended to stimulate basic, translational, and clinical research within the mission of the NIDDK that addresses HIV/AIDS research topics identified as high priority by NIH.
The Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition seeks projects related to HIV infection or its treatment within its research mission, including studies on gastrointestinal immunity and inflammation, the gastrointestinal microbiome, HIV infection and persistence within the gastrointestinal tract, enteropathy, liver and biliary diseases, pancreatic diseases, nutrition, and obesity.
The Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases seeks projects within its research mission, including studies examining the effects of HIV infection, including relevant host conditions, anti-retroviral therapy (ART), or other HIV-related therapies on metabolic/endocrine function and metabolic/endocrine-related outcomes (such as HIV- and ART-associated adipose tissue/lipodystrophic changes, as well as disorders of glucose metabolism and other HIV-associated metabolic and endocrine perturbations).
The Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases seeks projects related to kidney, urologic and hematologic dysfunction related to HIV infection or its treatment as well as mechanisms of HIV persistence and transmission in the male genital tract.
The scope of this FOA includes, but is not limited to:
- Elucidation of pathophysiological pathways whereby HIV or its treatment contributes to comorbidities within NIDDK’s mission.
- Interaction of HIV or its treatment with physiological processes within its mission, such as metabolism, normal blood development, or gastrointestinal mucosal immune homeostasis.
- The impact of HIV infection or its treatment on the gastrointestinal or penile microbiome, pathogenic enteric microbes, male genital tract infections, or co-infection with hepatitis viruses.
- Cellular and molecular characterization of the HIV reservoirs in the male genital tract, the gastrointestinal mucosa, adipose tissue, or other tissues within NIDDK’s mission.
- Response of the epithelium in tissues within NIDDK’s mission to HIV infection and HIV-associated inflammation.
Deadlines: standard dates and standard AIDS dates apply
URL: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAS-18-698.html
Filed Under: Funding Opportunities