C-reactive protein as a predictor of cardiovascular risk in HIV-infected individuals.

Unlabelled: Background In some studies HIV infection confers approximately two-fold higher risk of cardiac events compared with the general population. C-reactive protein (CRP) is a well-characterised biomarker of cardiac events in the general population and is also elevated in patients with HIV infection. The aim of this study was to determine the predictive value of CRP for cardiac events in HIV-infected individuals.

A study to investigate the impact of the initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy on the hepatitis C virus viral load in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients.

Changes in the hepatitis C virus (HCV) viral load (VL) were assessed in a retrospective study of 50 HIV/HCV-coinfected patients who initiated highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Most patients responded to HAART [during the first 6 months, plasma HIV VL fell by a mean 1.39 log10, becoming undetectable (<400 copies/ml) in 22% and CD4+ T cells increased by a mean of 100 cells/microl], but surprisingly, 27 (54%) showed some rise and 25 (50%) showed a significant increase in the HCV VL.

An inexpensive, simple, and manual method of CD4 T-cell quantitation in HIV-infected individuals for use in developing countries.

CD4+ T lymphocytes are currently the most common surrogate marker indicating immune status and disease progression with HIV infection. The cost of monitoring disease progression and response to therapy is still prohibitively expensive. Flow cytometry is the gold standard for the estimation of CD4+, but the high initial investment for this technology and expensive reagents makes it unaffordable for developing countries like India.