Association between BMI and periodontitis in women living with or at risk for HIV

Aims: Currently, there is no data available assessing the association between body mass index (BMI) and periodontitis among women living with HIV (WLWH). This study aims to investigate this association among WLWH and women at risk for HIV (WRH) in the United States. Methods and results: Data from 351 WLWH and 52 WRH participants from the Women's Interagency HIV Study having pocket depths and clinical periodontal attachment loss assessments in 2003–2004 were included. Multinomial logistic regression analyses in the full sample assessed the relationship between BMI (underweight/normal, overweight, or obese) and periodontitis by severity (mild, moderate, severe), adjusting for study sites, age, education, annual household income, smoking, alcohol consumption, and diabetes. Overall, 75.2% women (76.0% WLWH; 69.0% WRH) had periodontitis. Moreover, 75.0% obese and 75.3% overweight women were affected by periodontitis. In the full sample, adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of having mild, moderate, and severe periodontitis in obese women were: 1.14 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.51–2.52), 1.02 (95% CI: 0.46–2.29), and 0.24 (95% CI: 0.06–1.07), respectively, and in overweight women: 0.70 (95% CI: 0.31–1.58), 0.85 (95% CI: 0.38–1.90), and 0.31 (95% CI: 0.08–1.15), respectively. Conclusions: Even with high prevalence of periodontitis among women with or without HIV infection in this cohort, this study does not provide evidence of an association between BMI and periodontitis

SARS-CoV-2 infection among people living with HIV compared with people without HIV: Survey results from the MACS-WIHS combined cohort study

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) symptoms among people living with HIV (PLWH) are not well described. Setting: Longitudinal survey within the MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort Study (MWCCS) of PLWH compared with similar HIVseronegative (SN) individuals. Methods: Telephone-administered survey of MWCCS participants at 13 clinical research sites across the United States addressing COVID-19 symptoms, SARS-CoV-2 testing, and pandemic impact on social distancing and antiretroviral therapy (ART) use. Primary data collection occurred during May (wave 1), June-July (wave 2), and August-September, 2020 (wave 3). Results: One-third of MWCCS participants were tested for SARSCoV- 2 infection; 10% was tested ≥2 times. Similar proportions of PLWH and SN participants were tested, but SARS-CoV-2 positivity was higher among PLWH than among SN individuals (9.4% vs 4.8%, P = 0.003). Odds of SARS-CoV-2 positivity remained higher among PLWH after adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, and study site (adjusted odds ratio = 2.0, 95% confidence interval = 1.2 to 3.2). SARS-CoV-2 positivity was not associated with CD4 cell counts among PLWH. Among SARS-CoV-2 positive participants, 9% had no symptoms, 7% had 1-2 mild symptoms, and 84% had ≥3 symptoms. Most of the (98%) participants reported physical distancing during all survey waves; self-reported ART adherence among PLWH was not adversely affected during the pandemic compared with the previous year (similar adherence in 89% of participants, improved in 9% of participants, and decreased in 2% of participants). Conclusions: Despite similar SARS-CoV-2 testing and physical distancing profiles by HIV serostatus among MWCCS participants, PLWH who reported SARS-CoV-2 testing were more likely to have a positive test result. Additional studies are needed to determine whether and why PLWH are at increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection

Rapid Up-Regulation of α4 Integrin-mediated Leukocyte Adhesion by Transforming Growth Factor-β1

The α4 integrins (α4β1 and α4β7) are cell surface heterodimers expressed mostly on leukocytes that mediate cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix adhesion. A characteristic feature of α4 integrins is that their adhesive activity can be subjected to rapid modulation during the process of cell migration. Herein, we show that transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) rapidly (0.5–5 min) and transiently up-regulated α4 integrin-dependent adhesion of different human leukocyte cell lines and human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) to their ligands vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and connecting segment-1/fibronectin. In addition, TGF-β1 enhanced the α4 integrin-mediated adhesion of PBLs to tumor necrosis factor-α–treated human umbilical vein endothelial cells, indicating the stimulation of α4β1/VCAM-1 interaction. Although TGF-β1 rapidly activated the small GTPase RhoA and the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase, enhanced adhesion did not require activation of both signaling molecules. Instead, polymerization of actin cytoskeleton triggered by TGF-β1 was necessary for α4 integrin-dependent up-regulated adhesion, and elevation of intracellular cAMP opposed this up-regulation. Moreover, TGF-β1 further increased cell adhesion mediated by α4 integrins in response to the chemokine stromal cell-derived factor-1α. These data suggest that TGF-β1 can potentially contribute to cell migration by dynamically regulating cell adhesion mediated by α4 integrins