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The Elevated Systemic Cytokine Levels In Hiv Patients Are Not Associated With An Elevated Pulmonary Cytokine Environment., Rafael Fernandez-Botran, Andrea Reyes-Vega, Yasmany García, Chanakya Charan Tirumala, Praneet Kumar Srisailam, Anupama Raghuram, Paula Peyrani, Stephen P. Furmanek, Mahder A. Tella, Jeffrey D. Ritzenthaler, Jesse Roman, Julio A. Ramirez

Faculty Scholarship

Background

HIV-positive patients on anti-retroviral therapy (ART) are at higher risk of developing many non-AIDS related chronic diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), compared to HIV-negative individuals. While the mechanisms are not clear, a persistent pro-inflammatory state appears to be a key contributing factor. The aims of this study were to investigate whether HIV-positive patients without COPD present evidence of potentially predisposing abnormal pulmonary cytokine/chemokine environment and to explore the relationship between pulmonary and systemic cytokine levels.

Methods

This study included 39 HIV-seropositive and 34 HIV-seronegative subjects without COPD. All were subjected to outpatient bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage fluid …