Fig. 3

Intestinal permeability and microbial translocation are associated with increased rates of accelerated biological aging. A-B Ileum (A) and colon (B) samples from PLWoH and PLWH on ART depict ZO-1 or occludin expression (green). Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). Images, captured at 40 × magnification on a Zeiss Axio Observer 7 microscope, have a scale bar of 20 μm. Tight junction scores are presented as medians with IQR. Statistical significance was determined using Mann–Whitney U tests. C Elevated microbial translocation markers in PLWH on ART plasma compared to PLWoH, represented as median with IQR. Statistical significance determined using Mann–Whitney U tests. D Heatmaps of Spearman's rank correlations between tight junction integrity (top rows) and microbial translocation (bottom rows) with accelerated biological aging (left columns) and inflammatory markers (right columns). Positive and negative correlations are colored in red and blue, respectively. * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001. E–H Scatter plots display Spearman's rank correlations between HIV DNA/RNA levels in various tissues and tight junction scores: (E) HIV DNA in colon vs occludin score in colon, (F) HIV DNA in PBMC vs occludin score in colon, (G) HIV RNA in PBMC vs occludin score in colon, and (H) HIV RNA in PBMC vs ZO-1 score in ileum