Cytokine levels in CSF and neuropsychological performance in HIV patients Thorsten Nolting & Antje Lindecke & Hans-Peter Hartung & Eleni Koutsilieri & Matthias Maschke & Ingo-W. Husstedt & Sieghart Sopper & Olaf Stüve & Gabriele Arendt & and the German Competence Network HIV/AIDS Received: 23 December 2011 / Revised: 4 March 2012 / Accepted: 8 March 2012 / Published online: 12 April 2012 # Journal of NeuroVirology, Inc. 2012 Abstract HIV-associated dementia and its precursors are frequently observed complications of HIV infection, even in the presence of combination antiretroviral treatment (cART). The development, surveillance and treatment of this condition are still not completely understood. Cytokines, as immuno- logical transmitters, may be one key to gaining a deeper understanding of the disease. A total of 33 HIV-positive male patients were evaluated by neuropsychological testing, lumbar and venous puncture, neuroimaging and neurological exami- nation. The cytokine content in the CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) was examined by a solid-phase protein array. The Digit– Symbol Test, contraction time analysis, Rey–Osterrieth Figure and Grooved-Pegboard Test showed inferior results in the presence of an inflammatory CSF environment, whereas neu- roprotective or anti-inflammatory conditions were correlated to better results in contraction time analysis. Higher CSF levels of cytokines were independently correlated with the duration of HIV infection. The study showed a correlation of cytokine levels in the CSF of HIV patients with test results of their neuropsychological functioning. The effect was pronounced with regard to the more complex executive tasks. Determining CSF cytokine levels may be a useful supplement to the assessment of HIV patients and contribute helpful information to predict neurocognitive performance. Therapeutic strategies to ameliorate a negative impact of an altered cytokine milieu may aid in slowing the evolution of neurocognitive dysfunction. Keywords HIV . Neurocognition . Cytokines . Inflammation . Neuropsychology Introduction Human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) can provoke an array of neuropsychological deficits in infected patients; T. Nolting : H.-P. Hartung : O. Stüve : G. Arendt Department of Neurology, Medical School, Heinrich-Heine-University, Duesseldorf, Germany A. Lindecke Biomedical Research Center (BMFZ), Heinrich-Heine-University, Duesseldorf, Germany E. Koutsilieri Department of Virology and Immunobiology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany M. Maschke University Hospital of Duisburg-Essen, Department of Neurology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany I.-W. Husstedt Department of Neurology, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany S. Sopper German Primate Center, Göttingen, Germany O. Stüve University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, USA T. Nolting (*) Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Duesseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University, Moorenstrasse 5, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany e-mail: tnolting@me.com J. Neurovirol. (2012) 18:157–161 DOI 10.1007/s13365-012-0091-4