title: Association between plasma levels of eotaxin (CCL-11) and treatment response to interferon-alpha and ribavirin in HIV/HCV co-infected patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyse the association between plasma chemokine levels at baseline and virological response to interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) + ribavirin in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infected patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We carried out a retrospective study in 109 patients. Chemokines were measured using Multiplex kits using a Luminex 100 Analyzer. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between plasma chemokine levels before HCV therapy and virological response at weeks 48 and 72 after starting HCV therapy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty-seven patients out of 103 achieved end of treatment virological response (ETR). In patients achieving ETR, the baseline levels of eotaxin, MCP-1 and MCP-3 were higher than non-responder (NR) patients. Similarly, 51 patients out of 106 achieved sustained virological response (SVR). In patients achieving SVR, the baseline levels of eotaxin and MCP-1 were higher than in NR patients. Plasma levels of eotaxin, MCP-1 and MCP-3 had a significant positive association with ETR, as well as eotaxin and MCP-1 with SVR. However, after stepwise multivariate logistic regression, eotaxin was the only chemokine selected capable of predicting ETR and SVR with odds ratio (OR) of 1.016 (95% CI: 1.004-1.029) and 1.015 (95% CI: 1.002-1.027) for ETR and SVR, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our preliminary data suggest that plasma eotaxin levels prior to HCV antiviral therapy may be useful in predicting virological response to HCV treatment with IFN-alpha + ribavirin in HIV/HCV co-infected patients. Further experimental research is necessary to corroborate this hypothesis.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases, National Centre of Microbiology, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Berenguer
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Catalán
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Miralles
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: López
authors.forename: Jaime
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cosín
authors.forename: Salvador
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Resino
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D054413:Chemokine CCL11 / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D010949:Plasma / Q000737:chemistry*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; C515456:CCL11 protein, human; D054413:Chemokine CCL11; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D012254:Ribavirin