Plasma cytokine levels and risk of HIV type 1 (HIV-1) transmission and acquisition: A nested case-control study among HIV-1-serodiscordant couples

Abstract

Background. A heightened proinflammatory state has been hypothesized to enhance human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) transmission-both susceptibility of HIV-1-exposed persons and infectiousness of HIV-1-infected persons. Methods. Using prospective data from heterosexual African couples with HIV-1 serodiscordance, we conducted a nested case-control analysis to assess the relationship between cytokine concentrations and the risk of HIV-1 acquisition. Case couples (n = 120) were initially serodiscordant couples in which HIV-1 was transmitted to the seronegative partner during the study; control couples (n = 321) were serodiscordant couples in which HIV-1 was not transmitted to the seronegative partner. Differences in a panel of 30 cytokines were measured using plasma specimens from both HIV-1-susceptible and HIV-1-infected partners. Plasma was collected before seroconversion for cases. Results. For both HIV-1-infected and HIV-1-susceptible partners, cases and controls had significantly different mean responses in cytokine panels (P