Immune activation in HIV-exposed uninfected Zimbabwean infants (360G-Wellcome-210807_Z_18_Z)

Most children born to HIV-positive mothers do not get infected with HIV because of effective preventive medications. However, children who are exposed to HIV but not infected (HIV-exposed uninfected children) are more likely to be hospitalised or die due to serious infections than children born to HIV-negative mothers (HIV-unexposed children). The reasons for poorer health outcomes are unknown. It is possible that HIV-exposed uninfected children have problems with the immune system (the part of the body that fights infections), leading to more infections. The immune system of HIV-exposed uninfected children may be too overactive but ineffective at doing its job of fighting infections. We call this immune activation. I will investigate this in Zimbabwe. First, I will use laboratory experiments to compare immune activation in HIV-exposed uninfected children and HIV-unexposed children using stored blood samples. Next, I will investigate if immune activation in mothers during pregnancy leads to immune activation in their children soon after birth. Finally, I will investigate if these immune problems in HIV-exposed uninfected babies are associated with more infections in early life. Through this work, I hope to identify immune problems that can be targeted with new treatments to try and reduce deaths in HIV-exposed children.

Where is this data from?

This data was originally published by The Wellcome Trust. If you see something about your organisation or the funding it has received on this page that doesn't look right you can submit a grantee amendment request. You can hover over codes from standard codelists to see the user-friendly name provided by 360Giving.

Grant Details

Amount Awarded 0
Applicant Surname Evans
Approval Committee Internal Decision Panel
Award Date 2018-09-30T00:00:00+00:00
Financial Year 2017/18
Grant Programme: Title PhD Training Fellowship for Clinicians
Internal ID 210807/Z/18/Z
Lead Applicant Dr Ceri Evans
Partnership Value 0
Planned Dates: End Date 2021-09-03T00:00:00+00:00
Planned Dates: Start Date 2017-09-04T00:00:00+00:00
Recipient Org: Country United Kingdom
Region Greater London