Investigating its role in SIV-infection revealed that FAM26F was upregulated after infection (P<0.0008), but did not directly correlate with viral load in contrast to MX1 and CXCL10. However, pre-infection levels of FAM26F correlated inversely with overall plasma viral load (AUC) during the acute and post-acute phases of infection (e.g. AUC weeks post infection 0–8; no AIDS vaccine: P<0.0001, Spearman rank correlation coefficient (rs)=−0.89, n=16; immunized with an AIDS vaccine: P=0.033, rs=−0.43; n=25). Here, MX1 is linked to AIDS.