Markers of inflammation and coagulation are reduced following initiation of ART.

<div><p>Plasma samples were thawed and levels of A) interleukin-6 (IL-6) B) tumor necrosis factor receptor type 1 (TNFr1) C) D-dimers D) Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and E) CD14 (sCD14) were measured. Initiation of ART resulted in significant decreases from baseline in plasma levels of IL-6 and TNFr1 by week 4 (p=0.002 and p=0.038) D-dimer levels were significantly reduced by day 7 (p=0.031). Levels of sCD14 were significantly reduced by day 2 following initiation of therapy (p<0.001). LPS levels were significantly reduced from baseline 24 weeks after initiation of ART (p<0.001). None of these markers, except for IL-6, consistently reached the levels seen in healthy controls by the end of the study. Symbols used in the figure: </p> <p>N = Normal controls (in blue).</p> <p>0 = Baseline.</p> <p>D = Day (The two tick-marks between “0” and “D14” are Day 2 and Day 7).</p> <p>W = Week.</p> <p>* = Change from baseline significantly different from 0 (Wilcoxon signed rank p ≤0.05) .</p> <p>x = Significant difference from the normal controls (Wilcoxon rank sum p ≤0.05).</p> <p>- Horizontal bars represent 25^th (Q1), 50^th (Median), and 75^th percentiles.</p> <p>… Dotted line (in red) connects the medians over time.</p>