peer reviewed ; OBJECTIVE: To compare microbial translocation and its biomarkers in HIV-1 infected African and Caucasian patients of the Liege AIDS Reference Center. DESIGN: The study is based on a cross-sectional dataset of HIV-infected patients treated at the Liege AIDS Reference Center. Groups of Caucasian and African patients have been randomly selected in order to be identical for sex, age and duration of treatment. METHODS: sCD14, Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP) and routine HIV-follow-up parameters were measured on plasma samples. RESULTS: High values of LPS and LBP were observed in both groups of patients without significant difference between them. High values of sCD14 were observed in 53.1% of Caucasians and only in 18.8% of African patients (p = 0.0042). A correlation between LPS and sCD14 was observed in Caucasians but not African patients. CONCLUSION: Our observation suggests that factors not related to microbial translocation are responsible for lower sCD14 value in Africans.