Histopathologic and immunohistochemical findings associated with inflammatory dermatoses in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 disease and their correlation with Walter Reed stage. Military Medical Consortium for Applied Retroviral Research.
BACKGROUND: Cutaneous lesions are common in patients with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. In many cases they are nonspecific inflammatory dermatoses. OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to determine whether features of these inflammatory dermatoses were characteristic of HIV-1 infection and whether the changes correlated with the stage of disease. METHODS: Biopsy specimens of inflammatory dermatoses from 176 HIV-1-infected patients in all Walter Reed stages were reviewed and the changes were compared with each WR stage. RESULTS: The changes found were nonspecific but were suggestive of features described in graft-versus-host disease and became more prominent in late-stage disease. CONCLUSION: A correlation was found between the changes and the stage of disease, and the findings add support to prior reports that at least some of the changes in HIV-1 infection may be autoimmune in origin.