CLEVELAND, Ohio — Case Western Reserve University has received a $16 million, five-year federal grant to launch a multi-institutional research effort dedicated to understanding the relationship between substance use and HIV.
The Case Western Reserve University Center for Excellence on the Impact of Substance Use on HIV will be established at the School of Medicine as a resource for researchers locally and across the country, CWRU said in a release Monday.
The funding comes from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
The use of cocaine, opioids, methamphetamines and other stimulants is the second-most-common cause of exposure to HIV among Americans diagnosed with the virus that causes AIDS, CWRU said.
“More than 30% of people with HIV have multiple substance-use issues,” center leader Alan Levine, professor of molecular biology and microbiology at the CWRU School of Medicine, said in a statement. “It is poorly understood how these substances might combine with the HIV virus to further endanger and damage human health.”
“This center will investigate the biology, physiology, pathology, and social conditions for people who are carrying the HIV virus and using substances,” Levine said.
Jonathan Karn, the Reinberger professor of molecular biology and chair of the department of molecular biology and microbiology, and Mark Chance, vice dean for research and director of the Center for Proteomics and Bioinformatics, will serve as co-directors of the Center for Excellence.
Ann Avery, director of infectious disease at MetroHealth System, will lead the new center’s clinical activity, CWRU said.
Organization of the center’s administration will start in December, CWRU said.
The center will focus on brain, white blood cell and gut tissues, three types that are dramatically impacted by both substance use and HIV. Investigators will have access to centralized and state-of-the art biological and computational technologies not usually available to researchers studying substance use in HIV.
“In addition, affiliating with MetroHealth will allow the Center for Excellence to partner with community groups to enhance effective dissemination of research findings and make mental health, violence and victimization, trauma and behavioral health intervention services available to those affected by substance use,” Levine said.
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a sexually transmitted infection that can also be spread by infected blood. HIV interferes with the body’s ability to fight infection and disease. There is no cure, but there are treatments to slow the progression.
CWRU has a long history of research and clinical support for HIV/ AIDS. The School of Medicine and its affiliated hospitals were among the first in 1982 to treat patients with HIV, and remain at the cutting edge of research to find a cure.
CWRU’s existing NIH-funded Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) is one of 17 nationally and just one of two in the Midwest.
“Since we have a very strong HIV research team here on campus, we felt that this (new center) was the next logical step,” Levine said. “Many people with HIV have substance-use issues, and the implications for their health are a major concern for our country.”
The center’s research will involve collaboration among the CWRU School of Medicine, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, MetroHealth, Cleveland Clinic, the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences and its Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education at CWRU, and the Cuyahoga County, Lorain County, and City of Cleveland health departments.