The Th1/Th2/Th17 Cytokine Profile of HIV-infected Individuals: a Multivariate Cytokinomics Approach

HIV infection causes the dysregulation of cytokine production. A cytokinomics approach employing cytometric bead array (CBA) technology, flow cytometry and multivariate analysis was applied to the investigation of HIV-induced T helper cell type 1 (Th1), Th2 and Th17 cytokine changes in the sera of treatment naive individuals. Stepwise linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and logistic regression identified interleukin (IL)-6 to be discriminatory for HIV infection with 74.6% and 71.2% of the cases correctly classified. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) confirmed IL-6 and IL-10 concentrations to be significantly (p=0.001 and p=0.025) different between the groups. A scatter plot of the log IL-6 and IL-10 concentrations for the groups largely overlapped, with improved differentiation where patients were advancing to the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). IL-17A levels were higher than other cytokines but did not significantly distinguish the groups suggesting that the HIV- and HIV+ individuals had similar immune profiles. This possibility was supported by other clinical indicators. Taken together, the measured cytokines (IL-6, 10 and 17) have potential prognostic value.