title: Rate of cirrhosis progression reduced in HIV/HCV co-infected non-responders to anti-HCV therapy.
abstract: This is a retrospective longitudinal follow-up study of 25 HIV/HCV positive cirrhotic patients not responding to peg-IFN plus ribavirin, and 25 untreated controls matched for age (+/-5 years), gender and Child-Pugh score. The primary endpoint of the study was the incidence of cirrhosis progression (CP) defined as the occurrence of at least one of the following events: death, ascites, jaundice, encephalopathy, gastrointestinal bleeding and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). During the median follow-up of 54 months (34-89), four treated (16%) and 13 untreated patients (52%) experienced CP (p = 0.02). Poisson's regression model showed that the independent predictors of CP were Peg-IFN therapy (p = 0.016), positive HIV-RNA (p = 0.024), and altered ALP values (p = 0.012). Peg-IFN therapy seems to slow down the rate of cirrhosis progression also in HIV/HCV co-infected patients nonresponders to anti-HCV therapy, in comparison with untreated patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Università Vita-Salute, Milan, Italy. debona.anna@hsr.it
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Bona
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Galli
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gallotta
authors.forename: Aurelia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guzzo
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Alagna
authors.forename: Adriano
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lazzarin
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Uberti-Foppa
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015415:Biomarkers; D002648:Child; D018450:Disease Progression; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006678:HIV / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017211:Treatment Failure; D016896:Treatment Outcome