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Plasma levels of B-lymphocyte stimulator increase with HIV disease progression
Benigno Rodriguez1, Hernan Valdez, William Freimuth
1University Hospitals of Cleveland, Cleveland, OH, USA.
AIDS (London, England)
|September 10, 2003
Abstract:
We measured the plasma levels of B-lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) in 101 HIV-1-infected patients and 18 controls. BLyS levels were higher among HIV-positive patients [median 5.70 (3.90) versus 4.62 (1.04) ng/ml, P = 0.002], who had significantly higher BLyS and total serum globulin levels with decreasing CD4 cell counts. Moreover, BLyS levels increased exponentially below 100 CD4 cells/microl. BLyS and globulin levels increase as HIV dis ease progresses, suggesting a role for BLyS in the hypergammaglobulinemia of HIV infection.