Sera proteomic biomarker profiling in HIV-1 infected subjects with cognitive impairment

HIV-1 infection of the brain commonly leads to cognitive impairments (CIs). In its most severe form, HIV-1 associated dementia (HAD) is associated with advanced immune suppression and debilitating loss of memory, behavioral, and motor functions. Despite significant research activities, diagnosis remains one of exclusion. Bioimaging, neuropsychological testing, and viral and immune biomarkers serve to support but not define a diagnosis of HIV-1 associated CI. This is timely and required as brain injury triggered by HIV-1 can be controlled, in part, by antiretroviral medicines. The recent development of proteomics has opened new ways to study viral-host interactions which may provide new insight into treatment and disease monitoring. To this end, we developed a proteomics platform for HIV-1 associated CI biomarker discovery and used it to perform a pilot study for sera-associated HAD proteins. A 2-DE map of a serum proteome was focused on differentially expressed proteins. Differential expression of two proteins was validated by Western blot tests identifying afamin and ceruloplasmin as a potential biomarkers for CI associated with advanced HIV-1 infection.