Circulating cytokine levels, Epstein-Barr viremia, and risk of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-related non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Cytokine dysregulation and decontrol of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) latency by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are potential mechanisms for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). We therefore assessed circulating blood levels in pre-diagnosis plasma or serum from 63 AIDS-related NHL cases 0.1 – 2.0 (median 1.0) years pre-NHL and 181 controls matched for CD4+ T-cell count. Cytokines were measured by Millipore 30-plex Luminex assays and cell-free EBV DNA detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Correlations in multiplex cytokine levels were summarized by factor analysis. Individual cytokines and their principal factors were analyzed for associations with NHL by conditional logistic regression. Cases had higher levels for 25 of the 30 cytokines. In analyses of cytokine profiles, cases had significantly higher scores for a principal factor primarily reflecting levels of interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5, IL-13, and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (four gene products with coordinated transcription in vitro), as well as IL-1alpha. Epstein-Barr viremia was not significantly associated based on 113 evaluable samples without PCR inhibition. We found increases of T-helper type 2 interleukins and generalized elevations of other inflammatory cytokines and growth factors up to two years before AIDS-NHL. Cytokine-mediated hyperstimulation of B-cell proliferation may play a role in AIDS-related lymphomagenesis.