Plasma Levels of Viro-Immunological Markers in HIV-Infected andNoninfected Ethiopians: Correlation with Cell SurfaceActivation Marker

Abstract

Cross-sectional studies were conducted to measuresoluble viral and immunological markers in plasma inorder to determine the prognostic value of these mark-ers for HIV disease progression in Ethiopians and to seetheir association with cell surface markers in HIV-1-infected and noninfected Ethiopians. Whole blood sam-ples were collected from 52 HIV-1-negative Ethiopians,32 HIV-1-positive Ethiopians with absolute CD4ⴙT-cellcount >200/␮l whole blood and no AIDS defining condi-tions, and 39 HIV-positive Ethiopians with CD4ⴙT-cellcount <200/␮l and/or AIDS defining conditions. Plasmalevels of b2-microglobulin (b2m), soluble CD27 (sCD27),soluble tumor necrosis factor alpha receptor type II(sTNFR-II), IgG, IgA, IGE, and IL12 were elevated inHIV-1-infected individuals. The plasma levels of sTNFR-II, sCD27, b2m, IL12, and IgG were inversely correlatedwith numbers of CD4ⴙT-cells, the proportion of naı¨ve(CD45RAⴙCD27ⴙ) CD8ⴙT-cells, and the proportion ofCD8ⴙT-cells expressing CD28 (CD8ⴙCD28ⴙ) were posi-tively correlated with the proportions of activated (HLA-DRⴙCD38ⴙ) CD4ⴙT-cells, as well as activated (HLA-DRⴙCD38ⴙ) CD8ⴙT-cells. A strong positive correlationwas also observed when soluble immune markers werecompared to each other. Multivariate regression analy-ses of soluble markers with numbers of CD4ⴙT-cellsshowed that sCD27 is the best independent marker forCD4ⴙT-cell decline in the HIV-1-infected Ethiopians.Our results indicate that measurement of soluble im-mune markers, which is relatively easy to perform,could be a good alternative to the quantification of T-cellsubsets for monitoring HIV-1 disease progression inplaces where there is no facility for flow cytometric mea-surements