Poor Sleep and Inflammation in HIV-Infected Adults

People living with HIV (PLWH) often have poor sleep, which may put them at a higher risk for many chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease. One of the mechanisms by which this may occur is via chronic inflammation and endothelial dysfunction. Adenosine plays an important role in sleep homeostasis, with levels increasing in the CSF in response to sleep deprivation and falling with sleep. Peripherally, adenosine, via its signaling pathway, plays an important role in immunoregulation by suppressing the inflammatory response. PLWH, even on antiretroviral therapy, have suppressed peripheral adenosine levels which are predictive of adverse cardiovascular outcomes. The hypothesis underlying this study is that acute sleep deprivation in PLWH does not result in a compensatory increase in extracellular adenosine and its signaling peripherally, and this failure to appropriately compensate, leads to an increase in systemic inflammation and endothelial dysfunction.