title: Correlates of immune activation marker changes in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-seropositive and high-risk HIV-seronegative women who use illicit drugs.
abstract: The majority of natural history studies of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection have immune and viral parameters in men. Data demonstrating that women have lower HIV-1 RNA levels than men at the same CD4 cell counts have raised the question of immunologic differences in HIV-seropositive women. This study describes levels and changes in phenotypic markers of immune maturity, function, and activation in the CD4 and CD8 cell subsets in HIV-seropositive and high-risk HIV-seronegative women. Our primary hypothesis was that activation levels would be significantly higher among illicit drug users. However, results showed that HIV-1 RNA level was the strongest predictor of marker level and that both HIV-1 RNA level and CD4 cell count were independently associated with CD4 activation, but illicit drug use was not. In summary, this study demonstrated that immune activation was a significant pathogenic feature in women and that activation was driven by HIV infection and not illicit drug use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology/Microbiology, Rush Medical College, 1735 W. Harrison Street, Rm. 616 Cohn, Chicago, IL 60612, USA. alanday@rush.edu
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Landay
authors.forename: Lorie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Benning
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bremer
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Weiser
authors.forename: Harold
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Burger
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nowicki
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kovacs
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D012367:RNA, Viral