Impact of HCV-RNA levels on HIV-1 disease progression in Chinese HIV/HCV co-infected individuals / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the impact of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-RNA levels on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 disease progression in Chinese HIV/HCV co-infected individuals. Methods Cross-sectional analysis was performed among 391 HIV-infected patients for assessment of HCV-IgG, HCV-RNA, HIV-RNA, CD4 cell counts and cell surface markers of immune activation, to compare the difference of viral and immune indexes between HCV-RNA high group and HCV-RNA low group, and to elucidate the association between HCV-RNA, HIV-RNA and CD4 cell counts in HIV/HCV co-infected patients. Results (1) The percentage of anti HCV-IgG positive of former plasma donor group (93%) and drug-injection group (97.5%) were significantly higher than that of sexual transmission group (20.1%). The percentage of HCV-RNA positive of drug-injection group (89.9%) was significantly higher than that of former plasma donor group (48.3%) and sexual transmission group (62.5%), P<0.01, respectively. (2) HCV-RNA levels were positively correlated to HIV-RNA levels (r=0.237,P<O.01), whereas were negatively correlated to CD4 cell counts(r=-0.201,P<0.05). (3)The HLA-DR expression on T lymphocytes of HCV-RNA low group was lower than that of HCV-RNA high group (P<0.01). Conclusion High level HCV-RNA may act as a risk factor of HIV-1 disease progression.