Furthermore, 18F-FDG PET-CT activity was associated with serum levels of soluble CD163 (sCD163), a marker of monocyte/macrophage activation (Subramanian et al., 2012; Tawakol et al., 2017), clearly indicating a role of these cells in accelerated onset of atherosclerosis and CVD in HIV-1 infection. Here, CD163 is linked to HIV-1 infection.