Month: July 2014

Background
Secreted extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been proposed to play a role in many processes, including HIV transmission and neuronal function. In some cases these nanovesicles appear to travel through the body and fuse with specific cell types to deliver nucleic acid or protein cargoes that may alter cellular phenotypes. EVs from body fluids such as blood, cerebrospinal fluid, urine, saliva, semen, breast milk, and amniotic fluid could provide useful biomarkers for a variety of human diseases including brain disorders. Similarly, EVs could be exploited for in vivotargeting of cargoes (e.g. nucleic acids or small molecule therapeutics) to specific organs or cell types.
Some viruses can exploit the endogenous EV machinery during budding and infection. However, the extent to which EVs and the cellular EV machinery contribute to HIV/AIDS progression is not fully understood. In the nervous system, EVs may function in neuronal-glial communication, synaptic plasticity, and/or immune surveillance. However the role of EVs in psychiatric disorders and substance abuse is not well characterized. There have been some investigations into the role of EVs and their associated machinery in HIV/AIDS infection or progression. We have very limited information regarding how HIV infection might modulate normal EV function in HIV reservoirs such as the brain, gut, or lymph nodes. The possible utility of EVs as biomarkers of HIV progression and/or substance abuse exposure or as potential therapeutic agents for these disorders has also not been well explored.

Objectives
The purpose of this FOA is to encourage research projects that investigate extracellular vesicles in HIV infection/progression or as potential HIV/AIDS biomarkers or therapeutics. Proposed projects must also explore the potential impact of exposure to substances of abuse.

For complete information, see the full funding announcements below:

• Extracellular Vesicles in HIV/AIDS and Substance Abuse (R01)
(RFA-DA-15-011) National Institute on Drug Abuse
Application Receipt Date(s): December 15, 2014
• Extracellular Vesicles in HIV/AIDS and Substance Abuse (R21)
(RFA-DA-15-012) National Institute on Drug Abuse
Application Receipt Date(s): December 15, 2014

The consumption of alcohol is prevalent in the United States. In a recent survey, 87.6 percent of people aged 18 or older reported that they drank alcohol at some point in their lifetime; 71 percent reported that they drank in the past year; 56.3 percent reported that they drank in the past month. In view of these statistics, understanding the effects of alcohol on the human body is of relevance to a large fraction of the US population.

When people drink alcohol, it distributes along with water in the body, reaching everywhere in the body. Drinking too much alcohol results in multiple health effects, including alterations in brain function, damage to the liver, heart, immune system, and pancreas, as well as an increased risk of certain types of cancer. Also, drinking alcohol during pregnancy can result in fetal alcohol effects. In contrast to these detrimental health effects of alcohol abuse, there is also evidence that moderate alcohol drinking may have some health benefits, particularly on the cardiovascular and immune systems. Thus, the effects of alcohol on the human body are complex and diverse.

For the most part, studies of the effects of alcohol have focused on one tissue or target at a time. However, it is likely that in addition to effects on specific organs and cell types, alcohol also affects communication between different organs, and relatively little work has been done on this topic. The NIH Common Fund program on Extracellular RNA Communication reflects the fact that the role of extracellular RNA in mediating communication between different cell types is one of the most exciting areas of biology today. In view of this program, as well as the importance of a full understanding of the effects of alcohol on the human body, we wrote program announcement PA-13-197 to stimulate the alcohol research community to investigate the role of extracellular RNA in mediating the health effects of alcohol. We have been pleased with the response to this RFA to date, and look forward to receiving additional applications.