Inflammatory responses

[Guest guest]

An interesting one sent to me by Lark Lands.

M.

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Protein S and factor VIII progressively abnormal with advancing HIV disease

Last Updated: 2006-09-07 16:06:40 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Progressive abnormalities of protein S and

factor VIII may underlie the increased risk for thromboembolism in women

with advancing HIV disease, according to a report in the August 15th

Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

HIV-infected patients face an increased risk for venous thromboembolism

(VTE), the authors explain, but the mechanism behind this propensity

remains unclear.

Dr. andra M. Levine from University of Southern California, Los

Angeles, California and colleagues measured factor VIII activity and

protein S activity in 94 HIV-infected women and 50 HIV-negative women

enrolled in the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS).

Factor VIII levels increased progressively with more advanced stages of HIV

infection, the authors report, reaching median levels of 211% in women with

a history of clinical AIDS.

Similarly, median protein S activity levels decreased progressively with

more advanced stages of HIV infection, the results indicate, ranging from

75.5% in HIV-negative women to 46% in women with clinical AIDS.

Factor VIII levels increased and protein S activity levels decreased with

declining CD4 counts and increasing HIV-1 viral loads, the researchers note.

" This study is the first to document a clear relationship between

increasing parameters of HIV disease, including lower CD4 cells, higher

HIV-RNA levels, and history of clinical AIDS, with laboratory parameters of

a hypercoagulable state, including progressive increases in factor VIII

activity and decreasing levels of functional protein S activity, " the

investigators write.

" The reasons for elevated factor VIII levels and decreased protein S may

relate to underlying inflammation of HIV disease itself, " the researchers

speculate.

" Additional studies are currently under way to elucidate the relationship

between these coagulation abnormalities, use of HAART, and the development

of clinical VTE over time in the national WIHS cohort, " the authors add.

J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2006;42:572-577