Cerebrospinal fluid S-100b concentrations in patients with HIV infection

S-100b is low molecular weight acidic calciumbinding protein that is present in high concentrations in the astrocytes of the central nervous system (CNS). In the non-HIV-infected general population, elevations of S-100b in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are seen in destructive and inflammatory neurological disease, and measurement of CSF concentrations of S-100b have been shown to be useful in the differential diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and other dementias. There is increasing interest in the possiblity that astrocytes may be infected by HIV. We have prospectively evaluated whether measurement of S-100 in CSF is useful in the investigation of patients with HIV-associated dementia complex (HADC) and other neurological conditions.