Cardiovascular Risk in HIV Patients: Ageing Analysis of the Involved Genes

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has transitioned from a progressive, fatal disease to a chronic, manageable disease thanks to better defining of antiretroviral therapy, contributing to increased life expectancy. In parallel, a growing number of subjects without clinical signs of disease but living with chronic HIV infection (also indicated as PLWHs, i.e., People Living With HIV) are experiencing early cardiovascular disease, and the risk increases with age. However, a progressive increase in the prevalence of multiple comorbidity diseases has been reported as these patients age, including cardiovascular disease (CVD). Cardiovascular mortality can be related to viral infection, a progressive reduction in response to antiretroviral therapy, chronic inflammation, and lifestyle. Cardiovascular ageing represents a relevant issue in the management of HIV-infected patients. Although the exact pathophysiological mechanism that leads PLWHs to develop cardiovascular disease is not entirely understood, there is substantial evidence that they accumulate age-related conditions earlier than the general population. Furthermore, since the proportion of PLWHs growing older than 50 years has progressively increased, this results in a complex interaction between disease-related pathophysiology and the exposition of a growing burden of cardiovascular risk factors. We performed a study to relate the effect ageing gas on genes associated with HIV and cardiovascular diseases. We performed a systematic review of the genes most frequently associated with ageing in HIV-infected subjects, followed by a bioinformatic analysis to explore the biological impact of the ageing-related genes.