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

Abstract

Inflammasome activation is increased in people with HIV (PWH), but its relationship with coronary plaque is poorly understood in this setting. In a large HIV cardiovascular prevention cohort, relationships between caspase-1, IL-1β, and IL-18 and coronary plaque indices were assessed by multivariate logistic regression. Higher IL-18 and IL-1β were associated with Leaman score, an integrative measure of plaque burden and composition. 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.

HIV Infection Drives Foam Cell Formation via NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation

“…In PWH on ART and presenting a low-to-moderate traditional atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk, but with an abundance of plaque, elevated levels of IL-18 and IL-1β were found to be connected to the Leaman score. The Leaman score serves as an indicator of atherosclerotic burden, which is associated with cardiovascular events in the general population [1,13]. The same study found a correlation between the NLRP3 inflammasome and coronary artery plaque composition and severity in PWH on ART.…”