Antiretroviral therapy ameliorates SIV-associated myocarditis by dampening interferon signaling and pathogen response in the heart.

People with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (PWH) have an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). RNA-Seq was performed on hearts from simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)-infected rhesus macaques with or without antiretroviral therapy (ART). SIV infection led to high plasma viral load with very little myocardial viral RNA. SIV infection promoted an inflammatory environment in the heart through interferon and pathogen signaling, in the absence of myocardial viral RNA. While ART dampened interferon and cytokine response in the heart, SIV-infected animals receiving ART had deficits in expression of genes directly involved in fatty acid (FA) metabolism relative to uninfected animals.