Early penetration of the blood-brain-barrier by HIV

CNS dysfunction occurs frequently in patients with HIV infection. To better define the role of HIV in the pathogenesis of neurologic dysfunction, HIV isolation and antibody studies were investigated from the CSF in 52 seropositive patients, 29 with and 23 without neurologic signs and symptoms, in various stages of disease development ranging from asymptomatic to ARC to AIDS. HIV was recovered from the CSF of 5 of 29 (17%) patients with neurologic signs and symptoms and 5 of 23 (22%) neurologically asymptomatic patients. All patients with positive CSF HIV cultures had antibodies directed against HIV p24 and gp41 in serum and CSF by Western blot analysis and elevated intra-blood-brain-barrier total IgG and HIV-specific IgG synthesis rates. The frequency of CSF HIV isolation from the group of seropositive patients without AIDS, 9 of 32 (28%), exceeded that of patients with AIDS, 1 of 20 (5%) (p less than 0.05). These findings indicate that HIV infects the CNS early in the course of viral infection and prior to the development of HIV-associated neurologic abnormalities.