Macrophage Activation Marker Soluble CD163 Is a Dynamic Marker of Liver Fibrogenesis in Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Hepatitis C Virus Coinfection

Abstract

In HIV/HCV, increasing sCD163 levels accompanied periportal CD163+ macrophage enrichment in mild to moderate fibrosis, but not in established cirrhosis, suggesting that sCD163 is a dynamic biomarker of fibrogenesis rather than accumulated fibrosis. Our findings implicate HIV-related macrophage activation in accelerated fibrosis progression in HIV/HCV coinfection.