title: Safety and efficacy of an induction dose of pegylated interferon alpha-2a on early hepatitis C virus kinetics in HIV/HCV co-infected patients: the CORAL-1 multicentre pilot study.
abstract: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of an induction dose of pegylated interferon alpha 2a (IFN-alpha2a) on the 12-week hepatitis C virus (HCV) kinetics in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients co-infected with HCV. One hundred sixteen HIV/HCV co-infected patients from nine hospitals in Spain were randomized to receive 270 microg/week of pegylated IFN-alpha2a for 4 weeks followed by 180 microg/week for 8 weeks or 180 microg/week for 12 weeks. Ribavirin was given at a daily dose of 1000 or 1200 mg. The main outcome measure was the percentage of patients achieving an HCV-RNA below 50 IU/mL or a decrease of 2 or more log(10) at week 12 (early virologic response, EVR). HCV-RNA was measured at baseline, weekly, for the first 4 weeks and monthly thereafter. We observed no difference in the percentage of patients achieving an EVR between arms (on-treatment, 74% in both arms; intention-to-treat, 70% in the induction arm and 67% in the control arm), nor were there differences in the percentage achieving an undetectable HCV qualitative polymerase chain reaction at any time points or in the decrease in HCV-RNA from baseline. No differences were found between arms in the percentage of dropouts (8% in the whole study population). Our study failed to find a benefit of an induction dose of 270 microg/week of pegylated IFN-alpha2a for 4 weeks on the EVR in co-infected patients who are treatment naive. Despite the lack of benefit with this regimen, induction therapy with this schedule was safe and well tolerated in co-infected patients.
authors.affiliation: HIV Clinical Unit, Hospital Germans Trias I Pujol, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. ctural.germanstrias@gencat.net
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tural
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Solà
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rubio
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Santín
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Planas
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Quereda
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Berenguer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Montes-Ramírez
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Clotet
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy; D015497:HIV-1; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012449:Safety; D013030:Spain; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D012367:RNA, Viral; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D012254:Ribavirin; C100416:peginterferon alfa-2a