Detection of vIL-6, hIL-6, and HIV RNA in serial serum samples from an HIV-positive patient with MCD.

On day 1, prednisone treatment was initiated. vIL-6 levels were measured by a vIL-6–specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) established in our laboratory.6 hIL-6 was measured by a commercially available ELISA kit (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN) that does not detect vIL-6.6 The lower limit of ELISAs sensitivity in serum was calculated to be 300 pg/mL of vIL-6 and 1.0 pg/mL of hIL-6. HIV-RNA load was measured by Amplicor HIV-1 reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction test (Roche Diagnostic Systems, Basel, Switzerland), kindly performed by Dr Timothy Alcorn, Laboratory Corporation of America. 3TC indicates lamivudine; d4T, stavudine; and NFV, nelfinavir.