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Functional connectivity measured with magnetoencephalography identifies persons with HIV disease

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Abstract

There is need for a valid and reliable biomarker for HIV Associated Neurocognitive Disorder (HAND). The purpose of the present study was to provide preliminary evidence of the potential utility of neuronal functional connectivity measures obtained using magnetoencephalography (MEG) to identify HIV-associated changes in brain function. Resting state, eyes closed, MEG data from 10 HIV-infected individuals and 8 seronegative controls were analyzed using mutual information (MI) between all pairs of MEG sensors to determine whether there were functional brain networks that distinguished between subject groups based on cognition (global and learning) or on serostatus. Three networks were identified across all subjects, but after permutation testing (at α < .005) only the one related to HIV serostatus was significant. The network included MEG sensors (planar gradiometers) above the right anterior region connecting to sensors above the left posterior region. A mean MI value was calculated across all connections from the anterior to the posterior groupings; that score distinguished between the serostatus groups with only one error (sensitivity = 1.00, specificity = .88 (X 2 = 15.4, df = 1, p < .01, Relative Risk = .11). There were no significant associations between the MI value and the neuropsychological Global Impairment Rating, substance abuse, mood disorder, age, education, CD4+ cell counts or HIV viral load. We conclude that using a measure of functional connectivity, it may be possible to distinguish between HIV-infected and uninfected individuals, suggesting that MEG may have the potential to serve as a sensitive, non-invasive biomarker for HAND.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by funds from the National Institute of Mental Health (R03-MH081721). The sponsor had no role in the design, analysis or interpretation of this study. The authors are grateful to D. Martineck, A. Schubert and L. Teverovsky for their assistance with this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

    James T. Becker, Melissa Fabrizio & Howard J. Aizenstein

  2. Department of Neurology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

    James T. Becker, Oscar L. Lopez & Anto Bagic

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

    James T. Becker

  4. Laboratory of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience, Center for Biomedical Technology, Complutense University of Madrid and Technical University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo Bajo, Pablo Cuesta & Fernando Maestu

  5. Department of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

    Gustavo Sudre

  6. Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-3339, USA

    David Wolk

  7. Brain Research Unit, Low Temperature Laboratory, Aalto University School of Science, Helsinki, Finland

    Lauri Parkkonen

  8. Elekta Oy, Helsinki, Finland

    Lauri Parkkonen

  9. Neuropsychology Research Program, Suite 830, 3501 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

    James T. Becker

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  1. James T. Becker
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Correspondence to James T. Becker.

Additional information

This work was supported in part by funds from the National Institute of Mental Health (R03-MH081721). The sponsor had no role in the design, analysis or interpretation of this study.

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Becker, J.T., Bajo, R., Fabrizio, M. et al. Functional connectivity measured with magnetoencephalography identifies persons with HIV disease. Brain Imaging and Behavior 6, 366–373 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-012-9149-4

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