Different biological significance of sCD14 and LPS in HIV-infection: importance of the immunovirology stage and association with HIV-disease progression markers.
OBJECTIVE
Bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and soluble CD14 (sCD14) levels have been indistinctly used to measure bacterial translocation independently of the immunovirological stage in HIV infection; however, when the association of both markers with different HIV-progression end-points has been studied, discrepant results have been reported. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between LPS and sCD14 in different HIV-infection immune stages and to determine the relationship between these biomarkers with established HIV-disease-progression-related markers, as T-cell immune activation, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and D-dimer.


METHODS
Seventy-three chronically HIV-1-infected patients with detectable HIV-1 RNA levels were analyzed. LPS levels by use of limulus lysate assay, sCD14, intestinal fatty acid binding protein and inflammation-coagulation-associated biomarkers were assessed.


RESULTS
In this study, we found that LPS and sCD14 levels were only associated when low CD4+ T-cell levels and high HIV RNA levels were present. In addition, only sCD14 levels, but not LPS, were independently associated with HIV-disease progression-related markers, supporting the clinical importance of sCD14.


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that LPS and sCD14 have a different biological significance and should not be indistinctly used without taking the HIV immunovirological stage into account.
Laboratory of Immunovirology, Clinic Unit of Infectious Diseases, Microbiology and Preventive Medicine, Institute of Biomedicine of Seville, IBiS, Virgen del Rocío University Hospital/CSIC/University of Seville, Seville 41013, Spain.
Maconcepción
M
Romero-Sánchez
Alejandro
A
González-Serna
Yolanda M
YM
Pacheco
Sara
S
Ferrando-Martínez
Kawthar
K
Machmach
María
M
García-García
Ana Isabel
AI
Alvarez-Ríos
Francisco
F
Vidal
Manuel
M
Leal
Ezequiel
E
Ruiz-Mateos
D000328:Adult; D018988:Bacterial Translocation; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005338:Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products / Q000378:metabolism; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D018950:Lipopolysaccharide Receptors / Q000097:blood*; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D019562:Viral Load
D015415:Biomarkers; D005338:Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products; D018950:Lipopolysaccharide Receptors; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D012367:RNA, Viral; C036309:fibrin fragment D; D002097:C-Reactive Protein