Association Between Plasma Short-chain Fatty Acids and Inflammation in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-associated Neurocognitive Disorder: a Pilot Study

Overview

Journal Lipids Health Dis

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialties Biochemistry
Endocrinology

Date 2025 Feb 21

PMID 39984934

Authors

Xue Chen

Jiaqi Wei

Ling Zhang

Hu Wang

Yang Zhang

Zhen Li

Xia Wang

Lifeng Liu

Yulin Zhang

Tong Zhang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background And Aims: Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), key metabolites produced by gut microbiota, have neuroprotective effects in neurodegenerative diseases by modulating immune responses. However, their role in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND) remains largely unexplored.

Methods: We recruited HAND patients, HIV Control, and healthy controls (HC). Plasma SCFAs and SCFA-producing gut microbiota were quantified via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and fecal metagenomic analysis. Inflammatory cytokine levels were measured using liquid chromatography. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated to evaluate the predictive accuracy of SCFAs for HAND.

Results: Plasma SCFAs were significantly reduced in HAND patients, correlating with a decrease in SCFA-producing gut bacteria, such as Prevotella and its related species. Reduced SCFAs were positively correlated with pro-inflammatory cytokines and cognitive impairment, while being negatively correlated with anti-inflammatory cytokines. ROC curve analysis demonstrated that several SCFAs exhibited strong predictive accuracy for HAND status.

Conclusions: SCFAs may influence cognitive function by modulating inflammatory responses, and identifies plasma SCFAs as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for HAND. Further investigation is needed to delineate the mechanisms that SCFAs influence HAND pathology.

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