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REVIEW article

Front. Neurol.
Sec. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1467175
This article is part of the Research Topic Neurocognitive Dysfunction in People Living with HIV and the Underlying Brain Mechanisms View all 4 articles

Decoding HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders: A New Perspective from Multimodal Connectomics

Provisionally accepted
Zhongkai Zhou Zhongkai Zhou 1Wei Wang Wei Wang 1*Hui Li Hui Li 2Ying Shi Ying Shi 3Lingling Zhao Lingling Zhao 4Yibo Lu Yibo Lu 5Xingchen Wei Xingchen Wei 6Hongjun Li Hongjun Li 1*
  • 1 Department of Radiology, Beijing Youan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
  • 2 Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
  • 3 First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
  • 4 Sixth People's Hospital of Zhengzhou, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China
  • 5 Department of Radiology, Nanning No.4 People's Hospital, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China
  • 6 Shandong Provincial Hospital, Jinan, Shandong Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Currently, HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) remains one of the major challenges faced by people living with HIV (PLWH). HAND involves the vulnerability of neural circuits caused by synaptic degeneration and abnormal synaptic pruning. In recent years, connectomics has been gradually applied to HAND research as a cuttingedge method for describing the structural and functional connectivity patterns of the brain, to further elucidate the specific mechanisms underlying these neural circuit vulnerabilities. Using multimodal neuroimaging techniques such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI), and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), researchers can detail the connectome network changes in the brains of PLWH. These technologies offer potential biomarkers for the early diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment monitoring of HAND, while also providing new avenues for personalized prediction of cognitive status. Here, we start with the pathogenesis and risk factors of HAND, providing a comprehensive review of the basic concepts of unimodal and multimodal macro connectomics and related graph theory methods, and we review the latest progress in HAND connectomics research. We emphasize the use of connectomics to identify specific disease patterns of HIV-associated neurodegeneration and discuss the potential research directions and challenges in understanding these diseases from a connectomics perspective.

    Keywords: connectomics, HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND), structural connectivity (SC), functional connectivity (FC), default mode network (DMN)

    Received: 19 Jul 2024; Accepted: 16 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Zhou, Wang, Li, Shi, Zhao, Lu, Wei and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Wei Wang, Department of Radiology, Beijing Youan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China
    Hongjun Li, Department of Radiology, Beijing Youan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.