Head

Dr Edwina Wright, MBBS, FRACP

Staff

Ms Luxshimi Lal, B.Pharm, BSc

 

Research Overview

The Asia Pacific NeuroAIDS Consortium (APNAC) is a group of physicians, scientists and researchers from China, India, Cambodia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Australia with a shared interest in HIV-related neurological disease. The prevalence of HIV-related neurological disease in the Asia Pacific region has not been well studied, thus during 2005-2006 APNAC studied more than 1,000 patients from eight APNAC countries to address this question. In addition, HIV-infected patients involved in this study have regular assessments of their general and cognitive health and agree to donate their brains to the Australian National NeuroAIDS Brain and Tissue Bank (ANNBTB) Project. Thus the ANNBTB will provide an important clinical and pathological research repository for Australian researchers with an interest in HIV neurological disease.

Dendritic cells are key cells of the immune system but are infrequently found within the human brain. The Dendritic Cell Project seeks to determine whether these important cells are present in both healthy human brains and in the brains of patients with HIV dementia.

 

Research Objectives

• To study the prevalence and patterns of HIV-related neurological diseases within the Asia Pacific Region
• To expand enrolment into the ANNBTB Project from Victoria to include other states of Australia
• To study the role that dendritic cells might play in different HIV-related central nervous system diseases

 

Research Highlights

During 2006 the NeuroAIDS group completed enrolment into the APNAC study and the chief study findings were:

For outpatients:
• 12 per cent had moderate-severe HIV-related neurocognitive impairment
• 20 per cent had symptomatic peripheral neuropathy
• 36 per cent had evidence of depression.

For inpatients:
• 43 per cent of all inpatients were diagnosed with a neurological disease.

This is the first study to provide a broad estimate of the burden of neurological disease in HIV positive patients living in the Asia Pacific Region.