Pre-clinical carotid atherosclerosis and sCD163 among virally suppressed HIV patients in Botswana compared with uninfected controls

• Published in: PloS one 2017-06, Vol.12 (6), p.e0179994-e0179994
• Main Authors: Mosepele, Mosepele, Hemphill, Linda C, Moloi, Walter, Moyo, Sikhulile, Nkele, Isaac, Makhema, Joseph, Bennett, Kara, Triant, Virginia A, Lockman, Shahin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; Activation; Adult; Adults; Age; AIDS; Antigens, CD - immunology; Antigens, Differentiation, Myelomonocytic - immunology; Antiretroviral agents; Antiretroviral drugs; Antiretroviral therapy; Arteriosclerosis; Atherosclerosis; Biology and Life Sciences; Botswana; Cardiovascular diseases; Carotid Artery Diseases - complications; Case-Control Studies; Cell activation; Cholesterol; Comparative analysis; Demographic aspects; Diseases; Female; Geriatrics; Health risk assessment; Health risks; High density lipoprotein; Hip; HIV; HIV Infections - complications; HIV Infections - drug therapy; HIV Infections - immunology; HIV patients; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Hypertension; Lipoproteins (high density); Male; Measurement methods; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Monocytes; Monocytes - immunology; Patients; Receptors, Cell Surface - immunology; Regression analysis; Regression models; Ribonucleic acid; Risk analysis; Risk Factors; RNA; Therapy; Viruses
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0179994

Human immune deficiency virus (HIV) is associated with increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, yet the relationship between HIV and carotid atherosclerosis / monocyte activation among virally suppressed HIV-infected patients in sub-Saharan Africa is not well understood. We measured traditional CVD risk factors, bilateral distal common carotid intima media thickness (cIMT), presence of carotid plaque and plasma sCD163 levels among virally suppressed HIV-infected adults and HIV-uninfected controls, in a cross-sectional study in Gaborone, Botswana. The associations between HIV status, traditional CVD risk factors, sCD163 and outcome of cIMT were assessed in univariate and multivariate linear regression models. We enrolled 208 HIV-infected adults (55% Female, mean age 39 years) who had undetectable HIV-1 RNA on antiretroviral therapy and 224 HIV-uninfected controls (47% Female, mean age 37 years). There was no difference in cIMT between study groups, with mean cIMT 0.607mm and 0.599mm in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected, respectively (p = 0.37). Plasma sCD163 was significantly higher in HIV-infected versus HIV-uninfected persons (1917ng/ml vs 1593ng/ml, p = 0.003), but was not associated with cIMT (p = 0.43 among all, p = 0.72 for HIV-infected only). In the final multivariate model, increased cIMT was associated with older age, being treated for hypertension, and higher non-HDL cholesterol among all (p