• D Zaknun, M DiFranco, H P Oswald, J Zaknun, P Mayersbach, E Vuja, H Wachter, and D Fuchs.
• Clinic for Paediatrics, University of Innsbruck.
• Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. 1993 Jan 1; 105 (10): 284288284-8.

AbstractSerologic markers of immune activation, neopterin and beta-2-microglobulin (B2M), have been shown to predict progressive human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) disease based on cohort studies in adults. Both parameters appear also to be valuable in distinguishing HIV-1 infants with progressive disease from asymptomatic infants and HIV-1 seronegative infants. In a cross-sectional study we examined the utility of neopterin and B2M testing in 135 infants of an orphanage in Romania, 69 of the infants (51%) were found to be HIV-1 antibody seropositive; 95% of the 135 infants were either hepatitis B virus (HBV) antigen or antibody seropositive. In the HIV-1 seronegative infants B2M was higher in those with HBV antigenaemia. Serum neopterin and B2M concentrations were higher in HIV-1 seropositive than in seronegative infants (p = 7 x 10(-12) and 1 x 10(-6)). Children with CDC stage P2 had only slightly higher neopterin and B2M values as compared to stage P1 (P = 0.04 and 0.08). Our study indicates that measurement of neopterin and B2M is useful to monitor HIV-1 infection, particularly in areas where laboratory facilities are limited. Both parameters continue to be associated with HIV-1 infection even when there is a high background rate of other infections.

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