Depressive symptom clusters and biomarkers of monocyte activation, inflammation, and coagulation in people with HIV and depression

We assess associations of somatic and cognitive/affective depressive symptom clusters with monocyte activation (soluble (s)CD14, sCD163), systemic inflammation (interleukin-6 (IL-6), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP)), and coagulation (D-dimer, fibrinogen) in people with HIV (PWH) on suppressive antiretroviral therapy with depression. Utilizing baseline data from a randomized controlled trial, we found no significant associations in linear regression models examining individual depressive symptom clusters; however, models examining both clusters simultaneously showed that the somatic cluster was positively associated with inflammation biomarkers, while the cognitive/affective cluster was negatively associated with inflammation and coagulation biomarkers (suggesting a cooperative suppression effect). Our findings indicate a differential association with depressive symptom clusters and biological mechanisms underlying cardiovascular disease (CVD) in HIV, which may be driven by unique components of each depressive symptom cluster. This line of research could identify subgroups of PWH with depression at elevated CVD risk needing early CVD prevention approaches. Supported by R01 HL126557.