How common HIV integrase drugs affect mood and brain health
Official title: Examining the neuropsychiatric effects of HIV-1 integrase inhibitors
Funded at Meharry Medical College · NIH-11367941 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This work explores whether HIV integrase drugs cause mood and brain changes in people living with HIV.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Meharry Medical College NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Nashville, United States) |
| Project start | September 30, 1997 |
| Project end | May 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $409,974 |
| NIH project number | 5U54MD007586-39 |
| Project ID | NIH-11367941 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants are people living with HIV who are taking or switching to integrase inhibitor drugs, especially those who have noticed mood, sleep, or neurological changes.
✕Less likely to help
People without HIV or people with HIV who are not taking integrase inhibitors (or whose symptoms are clearly due to another cause) are unlikely to benefit directly from this project.
What this research studies
If you have HIV and take integrase inhibitor drugs, this project will look for links between those medicines and mood or brain symptoms. Researchers will examine reports from patients, analyze clinical data and samples, and use lab studies to explore how these drugs might change brain chemistry such as glutamate and calcium signaling. The team will compare different integrase drugs (for example dolutegravir, bictegravir, raltegravir) to see which ones are more likely to be tied to neuropsychiatric effects. Findings may guide safer drug choices and strategies to prevent or treat these side effects.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help doctors pick HIV medicines that cause fewer mood or cognitive side effects and lead to ways to prevent or treat those effects.
How similar studies have gone: Clinical reports have recently linked integrase inhibitors to neuropsychiatric symptoms, but the biological mechanisms remain largely unproven and are the focus of this work.
Where this research is happening
-
Meharry Medical College
Nashville, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Pandhare, Jui — Meharry Medical College
- Study coordinator: Pandhare, Jui
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.