Neopterin as Immune Marker in HIV Infection

Abstract

Serum neopterin concentration was studied in HIV-infected and non-infected Thai. Measurement of neopterin in serum by commercial ELISA test kit resulted the reference mean ± SD of 1.4 ± 0.93 ng/ml (from 122 HIV-seronegatives). Infection with HIV significantly elevated neopterin concentration to mean ± SD of 3.8 ± 2.94 ng/ml (from 35 HIV-seropositives). The 95% CI for mean among two groups were 1.2,1.6 ng/ml and 2.8,4.8 ng/ml respectively. Increase of neopterin concentration significantly correlated with decrease of CD4 cell number (r= -0.485, p=0.000). The use of neopterin to prognosticate or assessing HIV related clinical outcome had advantage where measurements of CD4 cell and viral load are not available.