9TH EUROPEAN AIDS CONFERENCE (EACS) 1st EACS RESISTANCE & PHARMACOLOGY WORKSHOP October 25 - 29, 2003 Warsaw, Poland

Background of Study: Limited information is available on the cytokine network during HIV infection. Since it will be useful for future treatment of HIV infection to take advantage of the immune responses we studied numerous cytokines/chemokines in HIV infected patients after cessation of antiretroviral therapy.

Objectives: To study cytokines/chemokines after cessation of antiretroviral therapy.

Methods: Serial samples of 5 HIV-1 infected patients were studied after cessation of antiretroviral therapy for a period of up to 35 days. We followed the HIV RNA levels. Furthermore, we analysed the cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, IFN-α, IFN-γ, and the ß-chemokines MIP-1α, MIP-1β and RANTES either by Luminex or by ELISA.

Results: The HIV RNA levels, which were undetectable at cessation turned detectable in all patients within 2 weeks and reached the mean maximum of about 300000 copies/ml already after 3 weeks. In correlation to these HIV RNA levels the ß-chemokines and TNF-α seemed to increase, whereas IL-1β and IFN-γ seemed to decrease. In IL-6 and IFN-α no correlation to the HIV RNA levels was detected.

Conclusions: The HIV RNA levels increased rapidly in all patients after cessation of therapy. Except in IL-6 and IFN-α all other studied cytokines/chemokines seemed to display a positive or negative correlation to the HIV RNA levels. However, we could not identify a clear pattern between the HIV inductive cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and the HIV suppressive ß-chemokines and cytokines IFN-α and IFN-γ. However, this study included only a limited number of individuals and the inter-individual differences were considerable.

Presenting Author: Babilonia Barqasho, Department of Clinical Virology, Karolinska Institutet, F68, Huddinge University Hospital, 14186, Stockholm, Sweden, Phone: +46-8-5858 7979

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