sCD14 is not a bona-fide biomarker of microbial translocation in HIV-1 infected Africans living in Belgium.

Objective: To compare microbial translocation and its biomarkers in HIV-1-infected African and White patients of the Liege AIDS Reference Center. Design: The study is based on a cross-sectional dataset of HIV-infected patients treated at the Liege AIDS Reference Center. Groups of white and African patients have been randomly selected to be identical for sex, age and duration of treatment. Methods: sCD14, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP) and routine HIV-follow-up parameters were measured on plasma samples. Results: High values of LPS and LBP were observed in both groups of patients without significant difference between them. High values of sCD14 were observed in 53.1% of whites and only in 18.8% of African patients (P = 0.0042). A correlation between LPS and sCD14 was observed in whites but not African patients. Conclusion: Our observation suggests that factors not related to microbial translocation are responsible for lower sCD14 value in Africans.