Systemic Cytokine Levels Show Limited Correlation with Risk of HIV-1 Acquisition.

Abstract

It has been hypothesized that immune activation and inflammation may increase HIV-1 susceptibility and that cytokines may be useful biomarkers for risk. Within a prospective cohort, we conducted a nested case-control analysis of plasma cytokine levels among women who acquired HIV-1 <3 months after sampling, compared to three different control groups. We observed associations between lower IL-6 and IL-10 and higher IL-7 levels with HIV-1 acquisition, however these associations were inconsistent when comparing to different control groups. Inconsistent results within our study and among prior studies suggest that reproducible findings are needed before cytokines are useful biomarkers for HIV-1 susceptibility.