CD4 and neoplasm: Although it has been reported that higher levels of IL-6 in plasma were associated with older age, higher HIV RNA, lower nadir CD4+ T-cell count and others during HIV infection [62], our current analysis revealed that IL-6 was correlated only with Vpr especially in the non-tumor group but not with age, HIV viremia and CD4+ T-cell count (P < 0.001; Fig 2D, left panel and S2 Table).