Longitudinal comparison of chemokines in breastmilk early postpartum among HIV-1-infected and uninfected Kenyan women

Breastmilk chemokines have been associated with increased HIV-1 RNA levels in breastmilk and altered risk of mother-to-child HIV-1 transmission. To characterize CC and CXC chemokines in breastmilk postpartum, we collected breastmilk specimens at regular intervals for 6 months after delivery from women with and without HIV-1 infection and used commercial ELISA kits to measure breastmilk concentrations of MIP-1α, MIP-1β, RANTES, and SDF-1α. Among 54 HIV-1-infected and 26 uninfected women, mean chemokine levels were compared cross-sectionally and longitudinally at days 5 and 10, and months 1 and 3 postpartum. For both HIV-1-infected and uninfected women, breastmilk chemokine levels were highest at day 5 for MIP-1α, MIP-1β, and SDF-1α, and subsequently decreased. RANTES levels remained constant over the follow-up period among HIV-1-uninfected women, and increased moderately among HIV-1-infected women. For MIP-1β and RANTES, breastmilk levels were significantly higher among HIV-1-infected women compared to uni...