In a previous study, we found that AIDS-NHL patients had elevated levels of plasma derived EVs bearing PD-L1, CD40, CD40L and/or TNF-RII, when measured at the pre-treatment visit in the AIDS Malignancy Consortium (AMC) 034 (AMC-034) clinical trial (rituximab plus concurrent infusional EPOCH chemotherapy) (35). Here, CD40 is linked to AIDS.