Posted on May 12, 2018
Source: the Journal of Infectious Diseases
Koay WLA, Lindsey JC, Uprety P, Bwakura-Dangarembizi M, Weinberg A, Levin MJ, Persaud D
Biomarkers of intestinal integrity (intestinal fatty acid binding protein (iFABP) and zonulin), were compared in earlyantiretroviral-treated, HIV-1-infected (HIV+; n=56) African infants and HIV-exposed but uninfected (HEU; n=53) controls. Despite heightened inflammation and immune activation in HIV+ infants, iFABP and zonulin levels at three months of age were not different from those in HEU infants, and largely not correlated with inflammatory and immune activation biomarkers. However, zonulin levels increased, and became significantly higher in HIV+ compared to HEU infants by five months of age despite ART-suppression. These findings have implications for intestinal integritybiomarker profiling in perinatal HIV-1 infection.
