Background: Microbial translocation (MT) is a characteristic of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Whether MT is also a biomarker of different immune responses to antiretroviral therapy (ART) received by people living with HIV (PLWH) is not known.
Methods: We examined the presence of MT in a cohort of 33 HIV-infected immunological responders (IRs) and 28 immunological non-responders (INRs) (≥ 500 and < 200 cluster of differentiation (CD)4+ T-cell counts/μL after 2 years of HIV-1 suppression, respectively) with no comorbidities. Plasma samples were used to measure the circulating levels of MT markers. All enrolled study participants had received 2 years of viral-suppression therapy.
Results: Levels of lipopolysaccharide (P = 0.0185), LPS-binding protein (P < 0.0001), soluble-CD14 (P < 0.0001), and endogenous endotoxin-core antibody (P < 0.0001) at baseline were significantly higher in INRs than in IRs and were associated with an increased risk of an immunological non-response, whereas the level of intestinal fatty acid-binding protein did not show this association. Analysis of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves demonstrated the utility of these individual microbial markers in discriminating INRs after ART in people living with HIV with high sensitivity, specificity, and area under the ROC curve.
Conclusion: INRs in HIV infection are characterized by increased MT at baseline. These markers could be used as a rapid prognostic tool for predicting immune responses in people infected with the HIV.
Keywords: HIV, immunological non-responders, microbial translocation