Editor,—The 14-3-3 proteins are a group of highly conserved proteins involved in intracellular signalling. Detection of 14-3-3 brain protein has been described in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with transmissible spongiform encephalopathies including both sporadic and variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease.^1,2 False positive results have been reported in conditions producing (sub)acute neuronal destruction, including herpes simplex encephalitis, ischaemic stroke, multi-infarct dementia, and paraneoplastic syndromes.^1–3 We postulated that 14-3-3 brain protein may be detected in CSF from patients with HIV associated dementia complex (HADC) as this condition is characterised neuropathologically by a giant cell …