1 HIV-associated Cryptococcal Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome is 2 associated with Aberrant T cell function and Increased Cytokine Responses . 3

7 Mucosal and Vaccine Research Program Colorado (MAVRC), 9 University of Colorado 18 Denver, Aurora, CO 80045, USA; Edward.Janoff@ucdenver.edu (E.N.J); 19 20 * Correspondence should be addressed to: David Meya david.meya@.gmail.com; Tel. 21 +256312207224, Infectious Diseases Institute, Makerere University, Kampala, P.O. Box 22 22418, Uganda. 23 Received: date; Accepted: date; Published: date 24 Abstract: Cryptococcal meningitis remains a significant opportunistic infection among 25 HIV-infected patients, contributing 15%-20% of HIV-related mortality. A complication of 26 initiating Antiretroviral therapy (ART) following opportunistic infection is Immune 27 Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome (IRIS). IRIS afflicts 10-30% of HIV-infected patients 28 with cryptococcal meningitis (CM), but its immunopathogenesis is poorly understood. We 29 compared circulating T cell memory subsets and cytokine responses among 17 HIV-infected 30 Ugandans with CM: 11 with and 6 without CM-IRIS. At meningitis diagnosis, stimulation 31 with cryptococcal capsule component, glucuronoxylomannan (GXM) elicited consistently 32 Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 8 April 2019 doi:10.20944/preprints201904.0086.v1