HIV-Tat and vascular endothelium: implications in the HIV associated brain, heart, and lung complications.

Following the advent of antiretroviral therapy (ART), neurological, cardiovascular, and pulmonary comorbidities emerged as major challenges in treating non-infectious complications in people living with HIV. Despite effective ART, HIV viral proteins can persist in circulation even in individuals with negligible viral loads, potentially contributing to cellular and tissue-level stress, inflammation, and related health complications. Most of the HIV protein: Tat (Trans activator of Transcription), expressed in HIV-infected cells, is actively secreted and exerts its pathological effects on non-infected cells, particularly impacting the vascular endothelium.