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Chronic HIV-induced inflammation and immune activation are thought to underlie many of the serious non-AIDS illnesses seen in HIV-infected patients. Data presented at CROI 2011 illustrate just how complicated these interactions are.
The link between HIV infection and cardiovascular disease was the focus of several studies. Moise Desvarieux and colleagues found that duration of HIV infection was associated with increased carotid intima–media thickness, but duration of antiretroviral therapy (ART) was not. Interestingly, high levels of anti-inflammatory markers seemed to be protective against atherosclerosis, regardless of whether inflammatory markers were high or low, thus highlighting the intricate nature of the inflammatory cascade [Abstrac…