Lack of good correlation of serum CC-chemokine levels with human immunodeficiency virus-1 disease stage and response to treatment

Abstract

Three CC-chemokines—MIP-1(alpha) (CCL3), MIP-1(beta) (CCL4), and RANTES (CCL5)—are natural ligands for the human immunodeficiency virus–1 (HIV-1) coreceptor CCR5. To determine correlations between CC-chemokines and HIV-1 disease stage or response to treatment, we examined serum levels of MIP-1(alpha), MIP-1(beta), and RANTES in 60 infected patients during 18 months while they were taking highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Our results demonstrate that serum levels of MIP-1(alpha) and RANTES were increased in HIV-1-infected individuals compared with those in healthy controls. We found no significant differences among 4 clinical stages of HIV-1 infection in the serum levels of three CC-chemokines. Longitudinal HAART analyses revealed a pronounced decline in serum MIP-1(alpha) levels over time. We found no difference in this decline between HAART responders and nonresponders. These findings indicate that production of MIP-1(alpha) and RANTES changes during HIV-1 infection and treatment; however, our results suggest that serum levels of CC- chemokines should not be used as biomarkers for HIV-1 disease stage or response to treatment.