Abstract:
HIV infection causes the dysregulation of cytokine production. A cytokinomics approach
employing cytometric bead array (CBA) technology, flow cytometry and multivariate analysis
was applied to the investigation of HIV-induced T helper cell type 1 (Th1), Th2 and Th17
cytokine changes in the serum of treatment naive individuals. Stepwise linear discriminant
analysis (LDA) and logistic regression identified interleukin (IL)-6 to be discriminatory for HIV
infection with 74.6 and 71.2 % of the cases correctly classified. Analysis of variance
(ANOVA) confirmed IL-6 and IL-10 concentrations to be significantly (p= 0.001 and p=0.025)
different between the groups. A scatter plot of the log IL-6 and IL-10 concentrations for the
groups largely overlapped, with improved differentiation where patients were advancing to
the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). IL-17A levels were higher than other
cytokines but did not significantly distinguish the groups suggesting that the HIV- and HIV+
individuals had similar immune profiles. This possibility was supported by other clinical
indicators. Taken together, the measured cytokines (IL-6, 10 and 17) have potential
prognostic value.
