Extracellular superoxide dismutase activity and plasma malondialdehyde in human immunodeficiency virus subjects of kano state as surrogate markers of CD4 status.

This study looked at the profile of plasma extracellular superoxide dismutase (SOD3) activity, malondialdehyde (MDA) vis-à-vis that of CD4 counts in human immunodeficiency virus subjects in Kano State, Nigeria. The subjects for this study comprised twenty (20) non-HIV infected volunteers as control and one hundred (100) HIV infected subjects. Forty nine (49) infected patients have not been on treatment, while fifty one (51) were at various stages of treatment. There was a negative correlation between the serum malondialdehyde concentration and CD4 count (Pearson r=-0.68, p<0.01). There was also a negative correlation between serum malondialdehyde concentration and extracellular superoxide dismutase activity ((Pearson r=-0.71, p<0.01) and Vitamin A concentration (Pearson r=-0.75; p<0.01). Conversely a positive correlation was observed between the CD4 counts in HIV infected patients and activity of extracellular superoxide dismutase (Pearson r=0.86, p<0.01). Similarly there was a positive correlation between CD4 count and serum vitamin A concentration (Pearson r=0.89 p<0.01). The possibility remains for using these indicators to monitor HIV patients not eligible for therapy in resource constrained facilities of our rural areas.