Study 1: Impact of HIV exposure on child immune trajectories and associations with neurometabolic profiles at age 2 years: a South African birth cohort study

The purpose of this first study is to investigate whether the neurometabolic differences observed in children who are HIV-exposed and uninfected (HEU) compared to HIV-unexposed (HU) children at age 2–3 years can be explained by altered maternal and child seroimmune profiles. This study adopts both cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches to explore group differences in peripheral blood inflammatory and neuroimmune markers in children and their mothers, exploring how these immune alterations are associated with child metabolite ratios to creatine obtained via MR Spectroscopy in parietal brain regions. By integrating immune and neuroimaging data from a South African birth cohort, this study aims to provide insights into the potential mechanisms linking maternal and child immune dysregulation to early brain development in HEU children.