title: HCV coinfection associated with slower disease progression in HIV-infected former plasma donors naïve to ART.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It remains controversial how HCV coinfection influences the disease progression during HIV-1 infection. This study aims to define the influence of HCV infection on the replication of HIV-1 and the disease progression in HIV-infected former plasma donors (FPDs) naïve to ART.
  
  
  RESULTS
  168 HIV-1-infected FPDs were enrolled into a cohort study from Anhui province in central China, and thereafter monitored at month 3, 9, 15, 21 and 33. Fresh whole blood samples were used for CD4+ T-cell counting. Their plasma samples were collected and stored for quantification of HIV-1 viral loads and for determination of HCV and Toxoplasma. Out of 168 HIV-infected FBDs, 11.9% (20 cases), 80.4% (135 cases) and 7.7% (13 cases) were infected with HIV-1 alone, HIV-1/HCV and HIV/HCV/Toxoplasma, respectively. During the 33-month follow-up, only 35% (7 out of 20 cases) HIV-1 mono-infected subjects remained their CD4+ T-cell counts above 200 cells/microl and retained on the cohort study, which was significantly lower than 56% (75 out of 135 cases) for HIV/HCV group and 69% (9 out of 13 cases) for HIV/HCV/Toxoplasma group (p<0.05). CD4+ T cells in HIV mono infection group were consistently lower than that in HIV/HCV group (p = 0.04, 0.18, 0.03 and 0.04 for baseline, month 9, month 21 and month 33 visit, respectively). In accordance with those observations, HIV viral loads in HIV mono-infection group were consistently higher than that in HIV/HCV group though statistical significances were only reached at baseline (p = 0.04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data indicated HCV coinfection with HIV-1 is associated with the slower disease progression at the very late stage when comparing with HIV-1 mono-infection. The coinfection of Toxoplasma with HIV and HCV did not exert additional influence on the disease progression. It will be highly interesting to further explore the underlying mechanism for this observation in the future.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention, China CDC, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jianqing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Lifeng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Yuhua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ruan
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yiming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001782:Blood Donors; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006678:HIV / Q000378:metabolism; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D016174:Hepacivirus; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents