title: [A study of the progression of cirrhosis in patients with human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis C virus coinfection].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the progression of cirrhosis in patients with HIV/HCV coinfection.
  
  
  METHODS
  The patients were divided into two groups, HIV/HCV coinfection group (n = 140) and simple HCV infection group (n = 33). A retrospective study was designed to compare the development of cirrhosis in a 15-year period between the two groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The development of cirrhosis in the HIV/HCV coinfection group was higher than that in the simple HCV infection group (16.4% vs. 3.0%, P=0.045). Counts of CD4+ T and CD8+ T in the HIV/HCV group were 200.0+/-134.1 cells/microl and 880.6+/-444.2 cells/microl, respectively. The counts of CD4+ T and CD8+ T in the group of simple HCV infection were 752.3+/-251.7 cells/microl and 529.0+/-170.7 cells/microl, respectively. There were significant differences between the two groups regarding the counts of CD4+ T and CD8+ T. Comparing the cases of HCV RNA (+) and anti-HCV (+) with the cases of HCV RNA (+) and anti-HCV (-), we found that the ratio was 89 to 15 in the group of HIV/HCV coinfection, and 25 to 0 in the group of simple HCV infection. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P = 0.043).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HIV/HCV coinfection can accelerate the progression of cirrhosis, which may be due to the effect of HIV on cellular immunity and humoral immunity.
authors.affiliation: Capital University of Medicine, HIV Science Beijing You'an Hospital, Beijing 100054, China. 13671108951@sina.com
authors.forename: Yong-Hong
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xin-Yue
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Shi-Qi
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Diao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016516:CD4-CD8 Ratio; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology; D015497:HIV-1; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies