Impact of HIV infection, highly active antiretroviral therapy, and hepatitis C coinfection on serum interleukin-27.

A newly described cytokine, interleukin-27 (IL-27), that activates naive CD4 T cells, has recently been shown to be an anti-HIV cytokine. However, the effect of HIV infection on IL-27 expression has not been characterized. We found that clinical characteristics, including HIV viral load, hepatitis C virus coinfection, and CD4 T cell counts, were associated with changes in serum IL-27. Overall, our results suggest circulating HIV may suppress IL-27, a critical concept in treatment development with this cytokine.