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Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Sequencing of Bacterial Microflora in Peripheral Blood: our Experience with HIV-infected Patients
Published on: June 11, 2011
Bacterial translocation in HIV-infected patients with HCV cirrhosis: implication in hemodynamic alterations and
Montserrat Montes de Oca Arjona1, Mercedes Marquez, Maria Jose Soto
1Internal Medicine Department, Hospital Universitario Puerta del Mar, Cádiz, Spain. joseantonio.giron@uca.es
Objective:
Analysis of the influence of portal hypertension on intestinal permeability in HIV-infected patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related cirrhosis and of the prognostic significance of consequent macrophage activation.
Methods:
Twenty HIV-monoinfected patients, 70 patients with HIV-HCV coinfection, 20 of them with compensated and 50 with decompensated cirrhosis, and 20 healthy controls were evaluated for intestinal permeability [measured by lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP) serum levels], macrophage activation [soluble CD14, soluble tumour necrosis factor receptor 55 Kd, and interleukin 6 (IL-6)], and activation of the rennin-angiotensin-aldosterone axis. Patients with decompensated cirrhosis were monitored for a median period of 429 days to analyze the prognostic factors implicated in survival.
Results:
Patients with decompensated cirrhosis show increased LBP levels compared with HIV-monoinfected patients. Patients with increased LBP concentration showed elevated soluble CD14, soluble tumour necrosis factor receptor 55 Kd, and IL-6 levels. Twenty-two patients died, from liver-related causes, during the follow-up, and 2 more underwent liver transplantation. Child-Pugh index, CD4 T-cell count, plasma aldosterone and serum IL-6 concentrations independently predicted liver-related mortality.
Conclusions:
Increased intestinal permeability, as measured by serum LBP levels, observed in patients with HIV infection is significantly higher in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis. Proinflammatory cytokines (IL-6) are prognostic markers of HIV-HCV-coinfected patients with decompensated cirrhosis.
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