Stability of Plasma Levels of Cytokines and Soluble Activation Markers in Patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection

Abstract

Cytokine and immune activation marker levels in plasma are valuable measurements of immune status and treatment effects in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and AIDS. Five populations representing various stages of disease were studied: controls, 2 AIDS groups with <50/mm3 CD4 cells, and 2 groups of HIV-positive subjects-1 with stable CD4 T cells (median, 545/mm3) and 1 with >100/mm3 CD4 cell decline in 1 year. Relatively stable levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, soluble TNF receptor (R)II, soluble interleukin-2R, neopterin, and beta2-microglobulin (beta2M) were documented over 5-8 weeks in patients with AIDS and for 1-4 years in the other groups. beta2M was generally the most stable marker. Interferon-gamma levels, however, fluctuated substantially. Individuals, whether normal or HIV-positive, maintain characteristic plasma levels of cytokines and immune activation markers. Thus, documented changes, in excess of the variability observed in this study, are likely to be significant indicators of change in disease status or effects of therapy.

Serum Concentrations of Markers of TNFα and Fas-Mediated Pathways and Renal Function in Nonproteinuric Patients with Type 1 Diabetes

“…Aliquots of the two controls were included in each assay (21) for estimating the interassay coefficient of variation (CV). For most assays, interassay CV was between 8.5 and 15.8% (15.8% TNF␣, 13.0% sTNFR1, 12.7% sTNFR2, 8.5% sFas, 13.5% sFasL, 8.1% sVCAM-1, and 14.7% IP-10).…”

Hyper-responsiveness to Stimulation of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-infected CD4+ T Cells Requires Nef and Tat Virus Gene Products and Results from Higher NFAT, NF-κB, and AP-1 Induction

“…Increased immune activation can also be detected by measuring soluble immune markers. These include neopterin, soluble CD8, soluble CD14, soluble CD25, tumor necrosis factor-␣, and ␤ 2 -microglobulin (4,(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15).…”

Influence of Neopterin on Ciliary Beat Frequency of Human Nasal Epithelial Cells in vitro

“…Increased levels of neopterin are a common finding in the course of infectious diseases (7)(8)(9)(10). Due to its stability in biological fluids such as serum or urine, neopterin has become a valuable diagnostic tool to assess the intensity of the cell-mediated immune response, e.g.…”

“…Thus, correlations between neopterin levels and the state of disease were reported for multiple sclerosis (3), rheumatic fever (4), coeliac disease (5) or systemic lupus erythematosus (6). In addition, high neopterin concentrations in serum and urine have been reported to be a reliable indicator for the severity of infectious diseases (viral, bacterial, protozoic, parasitic, or fungi-induced infections) as well (7)(8)(9)(10). The specific nature of neopterin biosynthesis in human monocytes/macrophages signifies that neopterin is not only a marker for an activated cellular (= Th1-type) immune response but might interfere with biochemical mechanisms in the course of the host-defense reaction.…”