Eckard AR, Hughes HY, Hagood NL, et al. - Given that HIV infection results in severe damages to gut-associated lymphoid and epithelial tissues leading to GI inflammation that induces systemic inflammation and enhances subsequent risk of comorbidities, researchers here, for the first time, compared concentrations of fecal calprotectin (FC), a biomarker of gastrointestinal (GI) inflammation, by HIV and antiretroviral therapy (ART) status and examined their correlation with systemic inflammation. They enrolled 101 participants with HIV (83 ART-treated and 18 ART-naive) and 89 uninfected controls. Measures of FC were determined in stool samples obtained from the participants by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ELISA. Elevated FC concentrations were observed in HIV regardless of ART status. Reduction in FC was observed in correlation with ART and immune reconstitution but not to concentrations seen in uninfected controls. Results overall suggest a possible utility of FC as a noninvasive surrogate measurement of GI inflammation and linked systemic inflammation in HIV.