Background

HIV-related comorbidities, coinfections, and complications (CCCs) cause significant pathology and suffering in people with HIV (PWH). These conditions include cardiovascular disease, lung disease, HIV-related cancers,, hepatobiliary disease, metabolic perturbations, obesity, enteritis, and renal disease. Some infections are more common in people with HIV than in the general population, including tuberculosis (TB), hepatitis B and C, human papillomavirus (HPV), and other sexually transmitted infections.

While these HIV CCCs also occur in people without HIV, there are important and unique biological mechanisms underlying their development in the context of HIV. Viral particles and antiretroviral therapy, for example, often interact with physiological and metabolic processes. For example, research has found that TB interacts with HIV and complicates the treatment outcomes for both diseases. Additionally, long-term treatment with ART may itself have consequences, interactions with other medications, HIV drug resistance, and other complications affecting health outcomes and quality of life for PWH. Therefore, the development of preventive or therapeutic strategies for HIV CCCs is dependent upon elucidating unique HIV-specific pathways and mechanisms.While great strides have been accomplished to begin understanding and identify targets for interventions aimed at mitigating HIV-associated CCCs, the maintenance of a pipeline of innovative researchers with the potential to lead transformative research on CCCs in the context of HIV and/or its treatment is essential for continued progress in this area. Therefore, this FOA seeks to support highly impactful, potentially transformative research on HIV-associated CCCs led by such creative early stage investigators (ESIs).

This Catalyst Award is intended to support the development of innovative, often risky, approaches to address significant problems in HIV CCCs research in areas of interest to one or more of the participating NIH Institutes. This FOA is not intended to expand the PD/PIs current research program, but instead projects should be a new direction that is reflected by new insight or understanding. Catalyzing advances may emanate from the application of innovative approaches and/or from testing creative hypotheses.

Catalyst awardees are required to commit a substantial portion of their research effort (at least 4 person-months) to activities supported by the award. Effort expended toward teaching, administrative, or clinical duties should not be included in this calculation. For example, 33% effort in a 12-month calendar appointment would equal approximately 4.0 person-months (12 x 0.33 = 4.0). For Additional details regarding how effort may be calculated in person-months, please refer to information posted on the NIH Office of Extramural Research website (here). Investigators who will not be able to meet this requirement should not submit applications.

Scope

Applications appropriate to this FOA should be consistent with the scientific priorities outlined by the NIH Office of AIDS Research (OAR), which were most recently described in NOT-OD-20-018. The award is intended to support innovative, high-impact,research by early stage investigators that will open new areas of HIV/AIDS research related to CCCs within the mission of one or more of the NIH components participating in this FOA. Areas of interest include novel mechanistic research into pathogenic processes, identification of novel preventive or therapeutic targets,interventions, or therapies; novel approaches to delineate unique biological pathways for HIV-associated CCCs in PWH as compared to those CCCs in people without HIV; pathogenesis of multimorbid HIV-associated CCCs; and/or identification of unique potential drug targets in PWH.