Meningioma in four patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection

Abstract

We describe four patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who had development of meningiomas. In contrast to those in the general population who have meningiomas, all our patients were young men; the mean age was 40 years (range, 32 to 50). Their risk behavior for HIV was homosexuality (three patients) and intravenous drug use (one patient). The CD4+ cell count in each of the three homosexual men was less than 50/μL and was 280/μL in the drug user. Imaging studies showed enhancing lesions in three of the patients. Although each of these meningiomas could have occurred in otherwise normal young to middle-aged men, we speculate that the meningiomas may have grown in these HIV-infected hosts because of either loss of immune function or dysregulation of cytokines.