Elsevier

Immunology Letters

Volume 28, Issue 3, June 1991, Pages 207-211
Immunology Letters

Increased endogenous interferon-gamma and neopterin correlate with increased degradation of tryptophan in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection

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Abstract

Reduced tryptophan and increased kynurenine concentrations have been reported in patients with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. From in vitro data it appears that activated indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is involved in this metabolic change. IDO is inducible by interferon-(IFN)-γ. We compared serum concentrations of IFN-γ and neopterin (the biosynthesis of which is also inducible by IFN-γ) with serum, tryptophan and kynurenine of 42 patients with HIV-1 infection.

IFN-γ, neopterin and kynurenine levels were significantly increased compared to HIV-1 seronegative controls whereas tryptophan was significantly decreased. Various significant correlations were found between tryptophan, kynurenine, 1FN-γ and neopterin concentrations. Highest degree of correlation was found between neopterin, IFN-γ and the kynurenine per tryptophan quotient which is the ratio between the product and the substrate concentration of IDO.

The data indicate that decreased tryptophan in HIV-1 seropositives may result from chronic immune activation and can be referred to increased activation of IDO.

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