Core and Cohort Updates

Core and Cohort Updates

Admin Core

The sixth URBAN ARCH Annual Meeting held in late March brought together approximately 70 investigators, staff, Scientific Advisory Panel members, and other collaborators to discuss the progress and future direction of the URBAN ARCH Consortium. The Annual Meeting featured two special events this year: a networking breakfast for trainees and a presentation and discussion with Dmitry Lioznov and Bulat Idrisov on treating HIV in Russia. On the main meeting day, Bruce Schackman from the Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorders, HCV, and HIV (CHERISH) delivered the plenary talk on health economics followed by Jennifer Wagman, Theresa Kim, and Kaku So-Armah who presented on their URBAN ARCH research funded by NIAAA administrative supplements. We look forward to growing partnerships throughout the year and reuniting with our teams and collaborators at the next Annual Meeting — which is scheduled for March 27-28, 2018!

Since the Annual Meeting, the Admin Core has been busy with the data and sample repository. Over 2,000 samples (plasma, serum, DBS cards) were received from St. Petersburg, Russia and placed into our freezer in Boston. Carly Bridden and Julia Canfield have also been coordinating external requests for data and samples, which is broadening the reach of URBAN ARCH resources.

l-r: Pavlo Smyrnov presents on HIV and IDUs in Ukraine; Another batch of Russia ARCH samples arrive to Boston from St. Petersburg (top shelf)

On May 23rd, URBAN ARCH, the CARE Unit, CFAR, and Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) Department of Global Health co-hosted a talk entitled “Innovative Programs for HIV+ IDUs in Ukraine” by Pavlo Smyrnov. Smyrnov is the Deputy Executive Director at the Alliance for Public Health in Ukraine, and he discussed the current HIV landscape in his country and shared some of the interventions aimed at improving HIV testing rates and yield.

The team has been preparing for the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) Scientific Meeting in Denver, CO in June. Jeffrey Samet and Kendall Bryant will be chairing a symposium entitled “Use of Biomarkers to Advance Alcohol and HIV Research,” which will include presentations from Kaku So-Armah and Theresa Kim on Russia ARCH and Boston ARCH, respectively along with investigators from VACS/COMpAAAS and SHARC. Julia Canfield, Jeffrey Samet, and Natalia Gnatienko will be attending the conference this year.

Congratulations to Natalie Foster on receiving her Master’s in Public Health from BUSPH! She will be continuing full-time through the summer as a Project Coordinator. The team also welcomed a new Research Assistant, Christine Capozzi, who received her BS from Boston University last month and has been working on her MPH concentrating in Epidemiology at BUSPH.

l-r: Natalie Foster at BUSPH Convocation; Christine Capozzi

BDM Core

The BDM Core has been very busy on a number of activities including helping each cohort to prepare for study launches, assisting with data management activities across the consortium, conducting multiple statistical analyses, and developing manuscripts.

l-r: Tim Heeren and Debbie Cheng 

Uganda Cohort

Uganda ARCH is doing well and the ADEPTT study is moving forward smoothly. The principal investigator, Judy Hahn, project director, Nneka Emenyonu and statistician, Robin Fatch, had a very productive trip to Uganda during the month of April following the URBAN ARCH Annual Meeting in Boston to participate in the training of new staff and piloting of study procedures. Our intense training schedule ended with a fun team barbecue dinner of roasted goat, chicken and fish topped with a delicious ADEPTT team cake!

l-r: ADEPTT team members (Dr. Julian Adong, Chrisitne Ngabirano, Dr. Winnie Muyindike, Robin Fatch, Robert Wagubi, Caroline Asiimwe, Yona Mbalibulha, Allen Kekibiina, Catherine Kahinda, Christine Kazungu, Adah Tumwegamire, Benton Amanya, Nneka Emenyon); Dr.Julian Adong cutting the cake

We had initial challenges with enrollment due to unexpected low rates of latent TB in our screened participants. Fortunately, with great troubleshooting and a new batch of tuberculin for the tuberculin skin test (TST), we are back on track. As of June 1, 2017 we have screened a total of 58 participants and enrolled 8 participants into the study. We’ve completed baseline procedures for all 8 participants and a two week follow up study visit for one participant.

Russia Cohort and ZINC RCT

As of March 3, 2017, Russia ARCH (n=351) and ZINC (n=254) are closed to follow-up. The team is getting ready to launch the St PETER trial in the coming weeks.

In March, members of the Russian study team traveled to Boston to attend the URBAN ARCH Annual Meeting. During this time, internal study team meetings were held to discuss study start-up and analyses in progress.

Dr. Kaku So-Armah, a Russia ARCH/ZINC junior investigator, was awarded a CFAR Developmental award to conduct a project entitled, “HIV, multisubstance use and alterations in fecal microbial communities: a novel potential mechanism for HIV-associated end-organ disease.” This project will utilize the existing infrastructure from the St PETER study and support whole genome sequencing of fecal microbiomes and intestinal fatty acid binding protein (IFABP) to measure intestinal permeability.

Russia ARCH study team meeting in Boston- March 2017 (l-r: Dr. Tatiana Yaroslavtseva, Dr. Elena Blokhina, Ve Truong, Sally Bendiks, Dr. Kaku So-Armah, Dr. Dmitry Lioznov, Dr. Evgeny Krupitsky, Sarah Loch).

The team is actively pursuing data analyses, abstract submissions, and manuscript preparation.

Accepted Abstracts:

• HIV testing algorithms in research settings: lessons from Russia and Uganda (Sharon Coleman et al.)
  • Accepted for poster presentation at the American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting 2017

Published Manuscripts

• Impact of illicit opioid use on T cell subsets among HIV-infected adults (Jennifer Edelman et al.)
  • Accepted for publication in PLoS One
• HIV stigma and unhealthy alcohol use among people living with HIV in Russia (Karsten Lunze et al.)
  • Accepted for publication in AIDS & Behavior

The following abstracts will be presented at the upcoming College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD) and Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) Annual Meetings in June:

CPDD 2017:

• Opportunities for and awareness of preexposure prophylaxis among HIV-infected Russian women and men (Judy Tsui et al.)
  • Poster presentation at the International Women’s and Children’s Health and Gender (In Women’s) Group- Friday, June 17^th, 2:45-4:30pm
  • Poster presentation at the NIDA International Forum- Monday, June 19th, 7:00-9:00pm
• Opioid craving and HIV care cascade outcomes (Idrisov et al.)
  • Poster presentation at the NIDA International Forum- Monday, June 19th, 7:00-9:00pm
  • Poster presentation at CPDD Poster Session II- Tuesday, June 20^th, 8:00-10:00am

RSA 2017:

• Heavy drinking among HIV-infected women and men in the United States, Russia, and Uganda (Gnatienko et al.)
  • Poster presentation – Tuesday, June 27^th, 4:50-6:50pm
• Longitudinal association between use and inflammatory biomarkers (Kaku So-Armah et al.)
  • Presented at “Use of Biomarkers to Advance Alcohol and HIV Research” Symposium – Monday, June 26^th, 1:20-2:50pm

Boston Cohort

l-r: Mariana Krueger and Aldina Mesic

Over the last few months, the Boston ARCH Team has made significant progress. We welcomed two new staff members – a Project Manager, Mariana Krueger, and Research Assistant, Aldina Mesic – whom we know will augment our efforts as we move towards recruiting and enrolling our first participants in the 4F study this summer. With only 2% loss-to-follow-up among our Boston ARCH Bone cohort, we are hopeful to re-enroll close to 250 legacy participants for this next phase of the study, while cooperating with clinical teams at Boston Medical Center to enroll an additional 150 new participants.

In preparation for recruitment and enrollment, our diverse team of HIV, falls, addiction, and data experts has been working assiduously towards completing interview tools that capture the 4F study’s primary and exploratory aims. With weekly team and data management meetings, we have finalized our screening tool and nearly finalized our baseline assessment, which our research assistants and others will soon pilot-test for accuracy, appropriateness, and feasibility.

We are grateful to our team members at the Boston University School of Public Health’s Data Coordinating Center (DCC) who have created web-based versions of these screeners and assessments that aid in accurate data collection, management, and analysis using a platform called REDCap. The DCC has also designed a web-based tracking system for us that will improve our ability to follow participants over time while maintaining strict confidentiality standards.

We have also been harmonizing our efforts with the Russia and Uganda cohorts at monthly and annual URBAN ARCH Consortium steering committee meetings. At the 2017 URBAN ARCH Annual Meeting in April, Dr. Theresa Kim presented her research in the effect of alcohol and opioid use in bone turnover markers, which was funded by an Administrative Supplement to the original Boston ARCH Bone study. She will also present this research in a poster presentation entitled, “Alcohol and changes in bone formation and resorption among people with HIV infection and substance dependence” at the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) symposium in Denver, Colorado.

l-r: Jennifer Wagman, Theresa Kim, and Kaku So-Armah presented their supplements at the URBAN ARCH Annual Meeting; Rich Saitz presenting on Boston ARCH at the Annual Meeting

CPDD 2017:

• The importance of self-medication with substances in people with HIV infection and substance dependence (Margo Godersky et al.) – Tuesday, June 20^th, 8:00-10:00am

Published Manuscripts

• HIV-infected individuals who use alcohol and drugs and virologic suppression (Seonaid Nolan et al.)
  • Accepted for publication in AIDS Care
• Lifetime and recent alcohol use and bone mineral density in adults with HIV infection and substance dependence (Alicia Ventura et al.)
  • Accepted for publication in Medicine: HIV/AIDS