Autoantibodies and circulating immune complexes in subjects infected with human immunodeficiency virus

We wish to report the results of a retrospective study of patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related complex (ARC) as well as a group of asymptomatic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals, in whom we examined markers of systemic autoimmune disease including anti-cell antibodies, immunoglobulin (Ig) and complement (C3 and C4) profiles as well as circulating immune complexes (CIC). Antibodies to cytoplasmic (but not nuclear) antigens were significantly elevated in the AIDS and ARC groups when compared with a population of normal individuals (for AIDS, P = 0.0002 vs. control; for ARC, P = 0.0004 vs. control). The non-AIDS/ARC, HIV+ group did not demonstrate significance (P = 0.054). Each of the three study groups also demonstrated increased Ig (P less than 0.05 for each immunoglobulin class). CIC, as determined by a Clq-binding enzyme immunoassay, were higher in all three study groups (P less than 0.05) when compared with controls. C3 and C4 were not significantly lower than control subjects (P greater than 0.05), but C4 did demonstrate a significant (P = 0.01) inverse correlation with CIC. These findings strengthen the hypothesized autoimmune aspect of AIDS and ARC, and extend this concept to include HIV-infected individuals without frank disease.