CONCENTRATIONS OF CIRCULATING BETA-CHEMOKINES DO NOT CORRELATE WITH VIRAL LOAD IN HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS-INFECTED INDIVIDUALS

The CC or beta-chemokines MIP-1 alpha, MIP-1 beta, and RANTES are the primary components of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-supp ressive soluble factors in vitro. We studied the relationship between the concentrations of MIP-1 alpha, MIP-1 beta, and RANTES in plasma an d HIV viral load in HIV-infected subjects. The HIV-positive patient gr oup (n = 140) had significantly lower concentrations of all three beta -chemokines (MH-1 alpha, P < 0.0005; MLP-1 beta, P < 0.005; RANTES, P < 0.0005) than the control group (n = 58 for MIP-1 alpha, n = 27 for M IP-1 beta, and n = 59 for RANTES). In addition, we divided the patient group into three subgroups thigh, moderate, and low) based on the num ber of HIV-1 RNA copies in the plasma las measured by quantitative HIV RNA PCR). Again, all three subgroups had significantly lower concentr ations of the beta-chemokines than the HIV-negative control group. How ever, there was no significant difference in plasma beta-chemokine con centrations among the three subgroups within the patient group (P < 0. 3). Although our results demonstrate that HIV-infected individuals had significantly lower concentrations of circulating beta-chemokines tha n healthy uninfected control subjects, we found no correlation between the concentrations of beta-chemokines in plasma and HIV-1 viral load in HIV-infected individuals.