Biomarkers of HIV-associated Cancer

Abstract

Cancer biomarkers have provided great opportunities for improving the management of cancer patients by enhancing the efficiency of early detection, diagnosis, and efficacy of treatment. Every cell type has a unique molecular signature, referred to as biomarkers, which are identifiable characteristics such as levels or activities of a myriad of genes, proteins, or other molecular features. Biomarkers can facilitate the molecular definition of cancer, provide information about the course of cancer, and predict response to chemotherapy. They offer the hope of early detection as well as tracking disease progression and recurrence. Current progress in the characterization of molecular genetics of HIV-associated cancers may form the basis for improved patient stratification and future targeted or individualized therapies. Biomarker use for cancer staging and personalization of therapy at the time of diagnosis could improve patient care. This review focuses on the relevance of biomarkers in the most common HIV-associated malignancies, namely, Kaposi sarcoma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and invasive cervical cancer.

Expression pattern of the CXCL12/CXCR4-CXCR7 trio in Kaposi sarcoma skin lesions

“…Furthermore, these deregulations correlated with the detection of known pathophysiological indicators of KS, suggesting that the CXCL12/CXCR4–CXCR7 axis may be a feasible tissue type 0 biomarker, which measures the natural history of a disease and correlates over time with known pathological indicators . LANA, a major HHV‐8 latency protein exhibiting oncogenic properties, has been shown to be present at high levels in KS nodules, participate in the tumorigenic process, and constitute a KS histological diagnostic biomarker . Consistently with previous studies, we co‐detected LANA and CXCL12 in KS lesions and extended this to CXCR4 and CXCR7.…”

“…Although various inflammatory cytokines or growth factors have been proposed as histological KS diagnostic biomarkers, noninvasive or plasmatic biomarkers are not available in this indication. Our results suggest that plasma CXCL12 concentrations do not seem to be a useful biomarker, either in day‐to‐day practice as an indicator of the pathogenic process, or to help in identifying patients with poor clinical response to treatment.…”

“…In KS lesions, most spindle cells are latently infected with HHV‐8 and express the latent nuclear antigen (LANA) of the virus; they also display a high rate of proliferation and angiogenesis, all of which increase with lesion severity . Thus, biomarkers are required to help in the stratification of patients and to provide information about KS progression …”

An Inflammatory Story: Antibodies in Tuberculosis Comorbidities

“…High levels of viremia are accompanied by high levels of IFN-γ, TNF-α, IFNα, and other inflammatory markers (164)(165)(166). The elevation of inflammatory serum markers is also correlated with onset of AIDS, cardiovascular disease, and lymphoma (165,(167)(168)(169).…”

HIV-AIDS and Aging: Challenges and Management

“…The symptoms may include headache, cough, diarrhea, fevers, and/or sweats, swollen glands, lack of energy, loss of appetite, weight loss, repeated yeast infections, skin rashes, sores in the mouth or genital area, pelvic and abdominal cramps, and short-term memory loss. The clinical indices or biomarkers of HIV infection associated pathology include pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6), markers of declining renal function (cystatin C), C-reactive protein (CRP), D-dime, soluble CD14, CD4 count and viral load, and other acute phase reactants, markers of T-cell activation (CD38, HLA-DR), markers of T-cell senescence (CD28, CD57), markers of B-cell activation (AID, IL10, soluble CD23 (sCD23), sCD27, sCD30), red blood cell indices (hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume, red cell distribution width), markers of liver injury (FIB-4, AST: platelet ratio index (APRI]), markers of Neuro AIDS (MCP-1, neopterin, osteopontin, ApoE-epsilon4), markers associated with neurodegenerative diseases (amyloid, Abeta42, ApoE, tau, phospho-tau) and markers associated with cardiac disease (Cardiac Troponin and B-Type Naturetic Peptide) [11,12].…”