Clinical Core

The objective of the Clinical Core is to provide clinical specimens and corresponding clinical and laboratory data from well-characterized patients with HIV-related kidney disease to support research proposed in all projects. For Project 1, we will provide DNA from HIV-positive patients with and without HIV-related kidney disease for the validation of gene associations identified in the murine model. For Project 2, the clinical core will provide human kidney tissue, urine, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells for envelope sequence analysis to determine whether there is continual exchange of virus between renal epithelial cells and interstitial inflammatory cells, and to establish whether the kidney is a long-term reservoir for HIV. For Project 3, the clinical core will provide human kidney tissue for the validation of observations in the murine model and in vitro experiments, in order to determine the pathogenic role of host responses to HIV infection in renal epithelial cells. For Project 4, the clinical core will provide human kidney tissue and clinical data to validate gene expression profiles associated with HIVAN in the murine model, and to determine whether those gene expression profiles are uniquely correlated with the diagnosis of HIVAN.