Tumor Necrosis Factor α Is Associated With Viral Control and Early Disease Progression in Patients With HIV Type 1 Infection

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases Vol. 210; no. 7; pp. 1042 - 1046
• Main Authors: Vaidya, Sagar A., Korner, Christian, Sirignano, Michael N., Amero, Molly, Bazner, Sue, Rychert, Jenna, Allen, Todd M., Rosenberg, Eric S., Bosch, Ronald J., Altfeld, Marcus
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Oxford University Press 01.10.2014
• Subjects: Adult; AIDS; CD4 Lymphocyte Count; Cohort Studies; Disease progression; Female; HIV 1; HIV infections; HIV Infections - immunology; HIV Infections - virology; HIV-1 - immunology; HIV/AIDS; Human immunodeficiency virus 1; Humans; Infections; Inflammation; Major and Brief Reports; Male; T lymphocytes; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha - blood; Tumor necrosis factors; Viral diseases; Viral Load; HIV/AIDS; disease progression; TNF-α; viral load set point; inflammation
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiu206

Inflammation in early human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) disease progression is not well characterized. Ninety patients with untreated primary HIV-1 infection were studied to determine associations of inflammatory proteins with early disease progression. High plasma tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) levels (≥8.5 pg/mL) were significantly associated with an increased viral load set point and shorter times to reaching a CD4⁺ T-cell count of < 500 cells/mm³ and initiating antiretroviral therapy. The increased risk of reaching a CD4⁺ T-cell count of < 500 cells/mm³ in the group with high TNF-α levels was driven by viral load but was independent of concurrent CD4⁺ T-cell count. Thus, TNF-α appears to be an important mediator of inflammation in patients with poor viral control and early HIV-1 disease progression.