Although people with HIV are living longer—obviously good news—they are also dealing with premature aging and its related comorbidities. That’s why the latest Campbell Foundation grant is timely. It will help explore whether two antioxidants can stop the CD4 cell dysfunction associated with HIV-related aging.

Specifically, the Florida-based foundation has awarded the $75,000 grant to Theodoros Kelesidis, MD, an infectious disease specialist at the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, who will be investigating the novel mitochondrial antioxidant (MitoQ) and the antioxidant 4F as they relate to HIV and aging. Or, as Kelesidis puts it in a Campbell Foundation press release: “We will explore whether novel antioxidants improve dysfunction of immune cells that contribute to overall HIV-related aging.”

“Research has found that the aging process speeds up by about five years on average for those with HIV,” said the Campbell Foundation’s executive director Ken Rapkin, adding that “premature aging is a dire and pressing consequence of chronic HIV infection.”

The hope is that the grant will fund the gathering of preliminary data that will serve as the basis for additional studies of these new therapeutic options.

The Campbell Foundation specializes in supporting innovative, nontraditional laboratory-based research concerning the treatment and prevention of HIV. To read more POZ articles about the foundation’s grants, click here. And to read more about the life expectancy of people with HIV, click here.