Assessment of potential protective biomarkers in serum and saliva samples of HIV-1 infected participants from RwandaMitrović, Sanja (Avtor) Jeras, Matjaž (Mentor) Bergin, Philip (Komentor) HIV cytokines protective antibodies ELISA Luminex Multiplex methodDespite more than 30 years of scientific and medical efforts, HIV infection is still a major global public health concern. The HIV pandemic continues to expand, with an average of 2,5 million new infections per year. Sub-Saharan Africa, including Rwanda, remains the most affected region in the world, accounting for approximately 70% of all people living with HIV. Therefore, safe and effective HIV prevention methods for Africa are urgently needed. A number of studies have shown that the cytokine network plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of HIV infection. This raises the question whether cytokines in HIV disease can be a target for new approaches to develop a safe vaccine. The aim of our work was the assessment of potential protective biomarkers in serum and saliva samples of 14 HIV-1 infected participants from Rwanda. For this purpose, we used two methods to analyze our samples, i.e. the in-house ELISA test for detection of IgG and IgA antibodies against HIV-Gag p24 and HIV-Env gp140 proteins, and the Luminex Multiplex technology for measuring 15 soluble proteins involved in the Th17 immune response pathway (TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, IL-10, IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-17A, IL-17F, IL-17E, sCD40L, IL- 21, IL-22, IL-23, IL-31 and IL-33). Our results showed statistically significant correlations between serum concentrations of IL-6 and IgA anti-EnvA, as well as IL-33 and IgG anti- EnvA. Additionally, we found statistically significant correlations in saliva samples for IL- 1β with IgG anti-EnvA, IL-4 with IgG anti-EnvA and IgG anti-p24, IL-17A with IgA antip24, IL-17E with IgG anti-p24, and IL-23 with IgG anti-EnvA. Taken together, our results suggested that there are correlations between specific HIV-1 antibody and cytokine concentrations, indicating some potential protective biomarkers in HIV infection (IL-6, IL- 33, IL-1β, IL-4, IL-17A, IL-17E and IL-23). However, implicating cytokines in the development of an HIV cure is not a simple task and several limitations of our results should be noted. Therefore, further studies on the cytokine protective role in HIV disease are necessary to clarify their role in the real clinical conditions.[S. Mitrović]20172017-11-15 03:36:13Magistrsko delo/naloga97891UDK: 616.98:578.828(043.3)COBISS_ID: 4335473sl