To test this hypothesis, we conducted a cross-sectional analysis to evaluate the relationships between serum neopterin levels and levels of sTNFR-1, sTNFR-2, IL-6 and CRP in the ALIVE study, adjusting for age, sex, race, body mass index (BMI), cigarette smoking, comorbidities, hepatitis C infection, injection drug use, HIV status (for all participants), and HIV viral load, CD4 counts and cART (for HIV+ subgroup). Here, CD4 is linked to hepatitis C virus infection.