The relationship of CSF and plasma cytokine levels in HIV infected patients with neurocognitive impairment.

Lin Yuan,Meng Xu,Wei Li,Bo Sheng,Luxin Qiao,Dexi Chen,An Liu

doi:10.1155/2015/506872

Abstract

Although HAD is now rare due to HAART, the milder forms of HAND persist in HIV-infected patients. HIV-induced systemic and localized inflammation is considered to be one of the mechanisms of HAND. The levels of cytokines in CSF were associated with neurocognitive impairment in HIV infection. However, the changes of cytokines involved in cognition impairment in plasma have not been shown, and their relationships between CSF and plasma require to be addressed. We compared cytokine levels in paired CSF and plasma samples from HIV-infected individuals with or without neurocognitive impairment. Cytokine concentrations were measured by Luminex xMAP. In comparing the expression levels of cytokines in plasma and CSF, IFN-α2, IL-8, IP-10, and MCP-1 were significantly higher in CSF. Eotaxin was significantly higher in plasma, whereas G-CSF showed no difference between plasma and CSF. G-CSF (P = 0.0079), IL-8 (P = 0.0223), IP-10 (P = 0.0109), and MCP-1 (P = 0.0497) in CSF showed significant difference between HIV-CI and HIV-NC group, which may indicate their relationship to HIV associated neurocognitive impairment. In addition, G-CSF (P = 0.0191) and IP-10 (P = 0.0377) in plasma were significantly higher in HIV-CI than HIV-NC. The consistent changes of G-CSF and IP-10 in paired plasma and CSF samples might enhance their potential for predicting HAND.

Highlights

HIV associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND) is a prevalent and significant challenge to HIV infected populations [1]
We demonstrated that the concentrations of granulocyte colonystimulating factor (G-CSF), IL8, induced protein- (IP-)10, and monocyte chemotactic protein- (MCP-)1 in CSF samples from neurocognitive impaired HIV-1 infected patient were significantly higher than patients with normal cognition
Elevated concentrations of cytokines that we examined reflected the activation of the immune response in central nervous system or periphery, which might provide a cytokine panel for predicting neurocognitive impairment in HIV-1 infected individuals

Summary

Introduction

HIV associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND) is a prevalent and significant challenge to HIV infected populations [1]. The introduction of highly antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has effectively reduced the mortality and morbidity related to HIV; the overall prevalence of HAND remains high. Progressive neurocognitive disorders in HIV patients are related with impaired quality of life [3,4,5,6], poorer antiretroviral adherence [7,8,9,10,11], and higher mortality [12]. In our previous study we demonstrated the elevation of a small panel of cytokines in CSF was correlated with neurocognitive impairment in HIV infected patients [18].

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