Macrophage chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) may be a key trigger for the influx of macrophages into the brain in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) encephalitis.
HIV encephalitis was strongly associated with high CSF MCP-1 levels (P = 0.002), which were also correlated to high HIV-1 RNA levels in the CSF (P = 0.007), but not to plasma viraemia.