Elevated levels of inflammatory plasma biomarkers are associated with risk of HIV infection

BACKGROUND: To determine if individuals, from HIV-1 serodiscordant couple cohorts from Rwanda and Zambia, who become HIV-positive have a distinct inflammatory biomarker profile compared to individuals who remain HIV-negative, we compared levels of biomarkers in plasma of HIV-negative individuals who either seroconverted (pre-infection) and became HIV-positive or remained HIV-negative (uninfected). RESULTS: We observed that individuals in the combined cohort, as well as those in the individual country cohorts, who later became HIV-1 infected had significantly higher baseline levels of multiple inflammatory cytokines/chemokines compared to individuals who remained HIV-negative. Genital inflammation/ulceration or schistosome infections were not associated with this elevated profile. Defined levels of ITAC and IL-7 were significant predictors of later HIV acquisition in ROC predictive analyses, whereas the classical Th1 and Th2 inflammatory cytokines such as IL-12 and interferon-γ or IL-4, IL-5 and Il-13 were not. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the data show a significant association between increased plasma biomarkers linked to inflammation and immune activation and HIV acquisition and suggests that pre-existing conditions that increase systemic biomarkers represent a factor for increased risk of HIV infection. [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12977-021-00552-6.