CXCL8 and COVID-19: However, DEG analysis, comparing healthy controls to patients with each disease, revealed that HIV-1+ patients uniquely exhibited substantial upregulation of IL8, CCL3, and NFKBIA, which have been implicated in the antiviral response and inflammation (Figure 2E), while patients with COVID-19 showed upregulation of OAS2, XAF1, and MX1, which are part of the type-I interferon (IFN-I) signaling pathway (Figure 2E; Supplementary Figure S3A).