Plasma IP-10 Concentrations Correlate Positively with Viraemia and Inversely with CD4 Counts in Untreated HIV Infection

Abstract

Background:Chronic immune activation is a feature of HIV infection associated with accelerated HIV disease progression. There is conflicting data on the association of biomarkers of immune activation with traditional markers of HIV disease progression; CD4 counts and viral load (VL).Objective:The study aimed to determine the association of biomarkers of immune activation; interferon (IFN)-γ-induced protein 10 (IP-10) and soluble cluster of differentiation 14 (sCD14) in chronic HIV infection with traditional markers of HIV disease progression.Methods:We collected demographic data, enumerated CD4 counts and quantified VL in 183 antiretroviral therapy (ART)-naive adults with chronic HIV infection. Plasma concentrations of IP-10 and sCD14 were quantified in the ART-naive adults with chronic HIV infection and 75 HIV-uninfected controls.Results:IP-10 concentrations were significantly higher in the HIV-infected group (median; 257.40pg/ml, IQR; 174.08-376.32) than in the HIV-uninfected (median; 86.19pg/ml, IQR; 67.70-116.39) (P<0.001). Similarly, sCD14 concentrations were significantly higher in the HIV-infected (median; 1.45µg/ml, IQR; 1.02-2.16) group than in the controls (median; 0.89µ/ml, IQR; 0.74-1.18) (P<0.001). High log10 IP-10 concentrations were positively correlated with high log10 viral loads (Spearman’s correlation coefficient [R]=0.21, P=0.003) and inversely correlated with low CD4 counts (R= -0.19, P=0.011). In contrast, log10 sCD14 was not significantly associated with either log10 viral loads (R=0.03, P=0.707) nor CD4 count (R=-0.04, P=0.568).Conclusion:We conclude that plasma sCD14 and IP-10 were elevated in the HIV-infected patients compared to HIV-uninfected individuals possibly due to on-going immune activation. In addition, plasma high concentrations of IP-10 but not sCD14 concentrations are associated with high VL and low CD4 count.

Effect of Antiretroviral Therapy With Tenofovir, Lamivudine And Dolutegravir On Respiratory And Peripheral Muscles Strengh In People Living With Hiv/Aids

“…Given these observations, we hypothesized that this reduction in HGS would be associated with the inflammatory status caused by high viremia. This hypothesis is supported by a previous study, which found a relationship between IP-10 concentrations with high VL, even suggesting that this biomarker may be associated with HIV pathogenesis and immune depletion (48). In addition, our findings also corroborate those found in the substudy, suggesting that VL cumulative increased exposure seems to be an important factor in the decline in HGS, and further highlights the importance of early initiation of ART (14).…”

Transcriptomics and Targeted Proteomics Analysis to Gain Insights Into the Immune-control Mechanisms of HIV-1 Infected Elite Controllers

“…This inflammatory factor is considered to be a biomarker of chronic immune activation and as a marker for disease progression during HIV infection. It has recently been reported to suppress T cell and NK cell function in HIV-infected patients ( Mhandire et al, 2017 , Wang et al, 2017 ).…”

HLA-C*18:01 and KIR2DL2+C1 genetic variants are associated with low viral load in cART naïve HIV-infected adult Zimbabweans

“…We conducted a cross sectional study which was nested in the "Immunological and Virological Investigations of HIV-infected individuals with CD4 counts above 350 cells/µL (IVIHIV)" prospective cohort study as described elsewhere [24]. Briefly, the IVIHIV study was conducted at the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals Opportunistic Infections Clinic, in Harare, Zimbabwe.…”

“…CD4+ T lymphocytes were enumerated in EDTA anti coagulated whole blood within 6 hours of blood collection in the IVIHIV study using the Partec platform (Sysmex, Görlitz, Germany) as we described elsewhere [24]. Plasma HIV load was also estimated in the IVIHIV study from the archived plasma using the Cavidi Exavir viral load version 3 assay (Cavidi AB, Uppsala Science Park, Sweden) following the manufacturer's instruction.…”

“…The demographic and clinical characteristics of the study participants have been reported elsewhere [24]. A total of 36 HLA-C alleles were present in the study population, 18/36 (50%) with frequencies >1%.…”