iPVD Consortium Publications and Events

Presentations

• Microbiome metabolite-driven modulation of PH – Imad Al Ghouleh, Department of Medicine, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, USA
• Update on presentations and mechanisms of sexual dimorphisms in the cardiopulmonary vascular system in PVD – Tim Lahm, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, National Jewish Health, USA 

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Presentations

• Co-Infection and PVD – Hanan Yusuf, Addis Ababa University College of Health Sciences, Ethiopia

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Presentations

• HIV and PH – Nicola Petrosillo, University Hospital Campus Bio-Medico, Italy

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Presentations

• Unveiling the burden: Post-tuberculosis PVD in South Africa Friedrich Thienemann, University of Cape Town, South Africa 

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Presentations

• Microbiome and pulmonary circulation: where are we going? (Moderator introduction) – Suellen D Oliveira, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA 
• Pro-inflammatory gut microbiome in PAH patients – Thenappan Thenappan, University of Minnesota, USA 
• Insights into the role of microbiome metabolites in PH – Imad Al Ghouleh, University of Pittsburgh, USA

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Presentations

• Echocardiographic screening and prognostic significance of PH – Simon Stewart, University of Notre Dame, Australia & Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique
• PH in children from low- and middle-income countries – Judith Namuyonga, Uganda Heart Institute, Uganda

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Presentations

• PH in the shadow of infections: challenges in Indian practice – Prashant Bobhate, Kokilaben Dhirubai Ambani Hospital, Mumbai, India 

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Presentations

• Beyond parasites and viruses - fungi & PH – Sharilyn Almodovar (Moderator), Texas Tech University, USA 
• Pulmonary paracoccidioidomycosis-induced PH – Alexandre Todorovic Fabro, University of São Paulo, Brazil

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Presentations

• When SARS-CoV-2 meets the pulmonary circulation – Navneet Dhillon (Moderator), University of Kansas, USA 
• Endothelial progenitor cells: A potential biomarker for evaluating endothelial health in post Covid patients – Olga Tura-Ceide, University of Barcelona, Spain

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Presentations

• Schistosomiasis-associated PAH – Rudolf Oliveira (Moderator), Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil 
• Schistosomiasis-associated PAH: when the Schisto camouflage fails – Brian Graham, University of San Francisco, USA

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Presentations

• Inaugural series - inflammation and the pulmonary circulation: the good, the bad and the ugly (moderator introduction) – Vinicio de Jesus Perez, Stanford University, USA 
• Adaptive immunity: role of Tregs in PAH – Rajkumar Savai, Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Germany

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Presentations

• Inaugural series - inflammation and the pulmonary circulation: the good, the bad and the ugly – Peter Nyasulu, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa 
• Inflammatory lung microenvironment in lung cancer-associated PH – Rajkumar Savai, Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Germany

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Presentations

• Infection and PH - why have we started the iPVD Consortium? – Ghazwan Butrous, University of Kent, UK 
• Inaugural series - inflammation and the pulmonary circulation: the good, the bad and the ugly – Suellen Darc Oliveira, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA 
• scRNAseq reveals inflammatory EC phenotypes in PAH – Kewal Asosingh, Cleveland Clinic, USA

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Held during the PVRI 2026 Dublin, the meeting brought together international experts to discuss current challenges in diagnosing and managing infection-related PVD, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The programme explored clinical trial challenges, environmental stressors affecting the pulmonary vasculature, and new insights into the role of the microbiome in PVD.

Programme highlights

Session 1 – Challenges & opportunities in conducting PAH clinical trials in LMIC

• Highlights of the NIH Sch-PAH multicentre initiative – Brian Graham
• Advances in the clinical diagnosis of Sch-PAH – Camila Loureiro
• Pathways to diagnose iPVDs in rural areas – Ana Olga Mocumbi

Session 2 – Environmental stressors and iPVD

• The pulmonary vasculature at risk: pollution & PVD – Norbert Weissmann
• Extracellular vesicles, exposomes and HIV-associated PH – Navneet Dhillon
• The sleep, infection and PH triad – Andrew Bryant
• N-Ras: a novel player in endothelial & T cell pathophysiology in PH? – Edgar Fernández-Malavé

Session 3 – New advances in the role of microbiome in PVD pathophysiology

• Gut-lung crosstalk in Sch-PH – Suellen D’Arc Oliveira
• Microbiome as a treatment option in PAH – Thenappan Thenappan
• The link between microbiome, infection & PVD – Sharilyn Almodovar

Held during the PVRI 2025 Rio, the 4th iPVD Symposium focused strongly on schistosomiasis-associated PVD, one of the most important infectious causes of PH worldwide. Researchers and clinicians discussed new insights into diagnosis, disease mechanisms, epidemiology, and public health challenges.

Key discussion themes

Diagnosis and clinical challenges

• Differentiating schistosomiasis-associated PAH from idiopathic PAH remains difficult, particularly in endemic regions

• Accurate diagnosis often requires liver imaging, portal hypertension markers, and serology

Disease mechanisms

• Disease arises from a complex interaction between parasite burden, Th2-driven inflammation, and host genetic factors

Epidemiology

• Many cases are diagnosed years after migration from endemic regions

• Limited screening and clinical awareness continue to delay diagnosis

Future priorities

• Developing biomarkers for earlier detection

• Expanding echocardiographic and antigen-based screening

• Strengthening multidisciplinary and public health approaches

Held at PVRI 2022 Athens, the 3rd iPVD Symposium brought together international experts to discuss emerging research on infection and PVDs, with presentations spanning basic science, clinical research, and global health perspectives.

Held during PVRI 2020 Lima, the 2nd iPVD Symposium explored the complex relationship between infection, inflammation, and PVDs.

Programme highlights

Infection and PVD

• Infection, inflammation and immunology in pulmonary vascular pathology – Stephen Chan
• Epidemiology of schistosomiasis and HIV in Africa – Ana Mocumbi
• Spectrum of infectious diseases and PVD – Ghazwan Butrous

Schistosomiasis and PVD

• Pathogenesis of schistosomiasis-associated pulmonary vascular disease – Rahul Kumar
• Schistosoma japonicum and PVD – Brian Graham
• Clinical manifestations and management of PH due to schistosomiasis – Angela Bandeira and Rogério Souza

HIV and PVD

• Pulmonary vascular injury in HIV infection – Navneet Dhillon
• Pulmonary vascular pathology in HIV infection with drug abuse – Vinicio de Jesus Perez
• Clinical aspects of HIV-associated PH – Nicola Petrosillo

Other infections

• Microbiota and PH – Francisco Pérez-Vizcaíno
• Fungal infection and PVD – Alexandre Todorovic Fabro
• Tuberculosis-associated PVD – Gerald Maarman

The first international Symposium was held in Aswan, Egypt in 2019. This multidisciplinary meeting brought together cardiologists, pulmonologists, infectious disease specialists, immunologists, epidemiologists, and parasitologists to explore the role of infection in PVDs.

Key themes

• Inflammation and immune responses in PVD

• Schistosomiasis and other helminthic infections

• HIV-associated PVD

• Bacterial and fungal infections

• Coinfection, including HIV and schistosomiasis

• Epidemiology of infection-related PH

• Pharmacological interventions and treatment strategies

• Public health, education, and training needs

The Symposium helped raise awareness of the importance of infection in the development and progression of PVD and laid the foundation for the iPVD Consortium’s ongoing collaborative research efforts.

• Morales-Cano, D., Medrano-Garcia, S., Barreira, B., Hernández-García, A., Kumar, R. et al. (2026) ‘Pulmonary Immune Cell Landscape Altered by Exposure to HIV, Schistosoma and Their Combination’. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 27(12), 5426
• Villarreal, E.S., Marinho, Y., Loya, O., Aboagye, S.Y., Costa, G. et al. (2026) ‘Endothelial c-IAP2 loss amplifies P2X7 receptor-driven inflammation and worsens schistosomiasis-associated pulmonary hypertension’. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 123(25), e2513158123

• Craddock, V., Pandya, S., Spikes, L., Dhillon, N.K. (2025) ‘PVD Associated with ARDS and Post-COVID Syndromes’. The Pulmonary Vasculature in Chronic Lung Disease, Chapter 11, pp. 181–202. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland
• Mickael, C., Kabwe, J.C., Fonseca Balladares, D., Bai, A.S., Nolan, K. et al. (2025) ‘Pulmonary Hypertension Associated With Sickle Cell Disease and Schistosomiasis’. Pulmonary Circulation, 15(4), e70230
• Hjalmarsson, C., Jose, A., Poor, H., Loureiro, C.M.C., Stosor, V. et al. (2025) ‘Rare but serious: pulmonary vascular disease around the world’. JHLT Open, 9, 100327
• Rodríguez-Herrera, A.J., Setembre Batah, S., Faci do Marco, M.J., González-Zambrano, C.M., Dias-Melicio, L.A. et al. (2025) ‘Pulmonary Hypertension Secondary to Fungal Infections: Underexplored Pathological Links’. Infectious Disease Reports, 17(4), 84
• Prisco, S.Z., Oliveira, S.D., Weir, E.K., Thenappan, T., Al Ghouleh, I. (2025) ‘Gut Microbiome in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension—An Emerging Frontier’. Infectious Disease Reports, 17(3), 66
• Garcia, A.K., Lujea, N.C., Baig, J., Heath, E., Nguyen, M.T. et al. (2025) ‘Differential Effects of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Nef Variants on Pulmonary Vascular Endothelial Cell Dysfunction’. Infectious Disease Reports, 17(3), 65
• Correa, R.A., Rezende, C.F., Mancuzo, E.V., Mickael, C., Loureiro, C.M.C. et al. (2025) ‘Morbidity and Mortality Associated With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in a Schistosomiasis-Endemic Region of Brazil’. Pulmonary Circulation, 15(2), e70086
• Butrous, G. (2025) ‘Global Landscape of Infection-Induced Pulmonary Hypertension’. Infectious Disease Reports, 17(2), 35
• Loureiro, C.M.C., Scheibler Filho, A.L., Menezes, V.M.A.S., Correa, R.A., Oliveira, R.K.F. et al. (2025) ‘Clinical, Functional, and Hemodynamic Profile of Schistosomiasis-Associated Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Patients in Brazil: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis’. Infectious Disease Reports, 17(2), 22
• Jumaar, C., Jacobs, S., Payne, C., Sanni, O., Louw, E. et al. (2025) ‘Endothelial Dysfunction Markers Correlate with the Time Since Completion of Tuberculosis Treatment and the Number of Previous Tuberculosis Episodes’. Infectious Disease Reports, 17(2), 21
• Nyasulu, P.S., Tamuzi, J.L., Oliveira, R.K.F., Oliveira, S.D., Petrosillo, N. et al. (2025) ‘COVID-19 and Parasitic Co-Infection: A Hypothetical Link to Pulmonary Vascular Disease’. Infectious Disease Reports, 17(2), 19
• Ayyoub, S., Dhillon, N.K., Tura-Ceide, O. (2025) ‘Genetics of Long COVID: Exploring the Molecular Drivers of Persistent Pulmonary Vascular Disease Symptoms’. Infectious Disease Reports, 17(1), 15
• Ferreira, E.V.M., Oliveira, R.K.F., Salomao, R., Brunialti, M.K.C., Cardoso, M.B.A. et al. (2025) ‘Early Use of Liraglutide for the Treatment of Acute COVID-19 Infection: An Open-Label Single-Center Phase II Safety Study with Biomarker Profiling’. Infectious Disease Reports, 17(1), 5
   

• Oliveira, S.D., Almodóvar, S., Butrous, G., De Jesus Perez, V., Fabro, A. et al. (2024) ‘Infection and pulmonary vascular diseases consortium: United against a global health challenge’. Pulmonary Circulation, 14(4), e70003
• Marinho, Y., Villarreal, E.S., Loya, O., Oliveira, S.D. (2024) ‘Mechanisms of lung endothelial cell injury and survival in pulmonary arterial hypertension’. American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, 327(6), L972–L983
• Mahajan, A., Gunewardena, S., Morris, A., Clauss, M., Dhillon, N.K. (2024) ‘Analysis of MicroRNA Cargo in Circulating Extracellular Vesicles from HIV-Infected Individuals with Pulmonary Hypertension’. Cells, 13(11), 886
• Poyatos, P., Luque, N., Sabater, G., Eizaguirre, S., Bonnin, M. et al. (2024) ‘Endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular risk in post-COVID-19 patients after 6- and 12-months SARS-CoV-2 infection’. Infection, 52(4), 1269–1285

• Oliveira, A.P.S., Campoy, A.T., Oliveira, R.K.F., Ota-Arakaki, J.S., Ferreira, E.V.M. (2023) ‘Pulmonary hypertension outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil’. Jornal Brasileiro de Pneumologia, 49(5), e20230020
• Marinho, Y., Villarreal, E.S., Aboagye, S.Y., Williams, D.L., Sun, J. et al. (2023) ‘Schistosomiasis-associated pulmonary hypertension unveils disrupted murine gut–lung microbiome and reduced endoprotective Caveolin-1/BMPR2 expression’. Frontiers in Immunology, 14, 1254762
• Graham, B.B., Hilton, J.F., Lee, M.H., Kumar, R., Fonseca Balladares, D. et al. (2023) ‘Is pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with schistosomiasis distinct from pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with portal hypertension?’. JHLT Open, 1, 100007
• Cook, C.M., Craddock, V.D., Ram, A.K., Abraham, A.A., Dhillon, N.K. (2023) ‘HIV and Drug Use: A Tale of Synergy in Pulmonary Vascular Disease Development’. Comprehensive Physiology, 13(3), 4659–4683
• Lafetá, M.L., Souza, V.C., Menezes, T.C.F., Verrastro, C.G.Y., Mancuso, F.J. et al. (2023) ‘Exercise intolerance in post-coronavirus disease 2019 survivors after hospitalisation’. ERJ Open Research, 9(3), 00538-2022
• Vera-Zambrano, A., Lago-Docampo, M., Gallego, N., Franco-Gonzalez, J.F., Morales-Cano, D. et al. (2023) ‘Novel Loss-of-Function KCNA5 Variants in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension’. American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, 69(2), 147–158
• Kumar, R., Aktay-Cetin, Ö., Craddock, V., Morales-Cano, D., Kosanovic, D. et al. (2023) ‘Potential long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection on the pulmonary vasculature: Multilayered cross-talks in the setting of coinfections and comorbidities’. PLOS Pathogens, 19(1), e1011063
• Oliveira, S.D. (2023) ‘Cardiopulmonary Pathogenic Networks: Unveiling the Gut–Lung Microbiome Axis in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension’. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 207(6), 655–657

• Oliveira, R.K.F., Nyasulu, P.S., Iqbal, A.A., Gul, M.H., Ferreira, E.V.M. et al. (2022) ‘Cardiopulmonary disease as sequelae of long-term COVID-19: Current perspectives and challenges’. Frontiers in Medicine, 9, 1041236
• Poyatos, P., Luque, N., Eizaguirre, S., Sabater, G., Sebastián, L. et al. (2022) ‘Post-COVID-19 patients show an increased endothelial progenitor cell production’. Translational Research, 243, 14–20
• Halawa, S., Pullamsetti, S.S., Bangham, C.R.M., Stenmark, K.R., Dorfmüller, P. et al. (2022) ‘Potential long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection on the pulmonary vasculature: a global perspective’. Nature Reviews Cardiology, 19(5), 314–331

• Krishnamachary, B., Mahajan, A., Kumar, A., Agarwal, S., Mohan, A. et al. (2021) ‘Extracellular vesicle TGF-β1 is linked to cardiopulmonary dysfunction in HIV’. American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, 65(4), 413–429