Group Therapy Intervention in Uganda
Dr. Lofgren has a K23 grant that funds a clinical trial evaluating group therapy as a way to reduce inflammation in people living with HIV. We are enrolling at a large public clinic in Kampala, the capital of Uganda.
Participants have enrolled in HIV care within the last 3 months. Those in therapy have depression. However, we also have control groups of people with depression who get standard depression and HIV care, and those without depression who get standard HIV care.
For the group therapy, groups of ~8 are divided by biologic sex and they meet weekly for 8 sessions. It uses group support psychotherapy previously developed in Northern Uganda.
This work has been well received and is currently enrolling. We hope to complete the intervention in 2023.
Comparing Neuroinflammation in those with HIV +/- Depression
We have CSF samples from a Ugandan cohort that followed outpatients with HIV for 2 years. They screened for depression and collected demographic information.
We measured Cytokines and Neurofilament Light Protein from the CSF. Analysis is ongoing.
We are also doing proteomic analysis on the CSF and we are evaluating for different profiles among those with and without depression. Testing is ongoing.
Developing a Murine Model for HIV-associated Depression
We have funding to do an initial work to develop a murine model of HIV.
We are currently getting approvals.