title: Sustained virological response in HIV/HCV co-infected patients treated with pegylated interferon/ribavirin can be predicted from the overall rate of viral load decline over the first 4 weeks of therapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It is not known whether the probability of achieving sustained virological response (SVR) can be determined on the basis of the magnitude of HCV viral decline over the first 4 weeks of Peg-IFN/RBV treatment of HIV/HCV co-infected patients who fail to achieve a rapid virological response (RVR).
  
  
  METHODS
  HIV patients co-infected with HCV genotype 1 naïve to Peg-IFN/RBV treatment were included. HCV viral decline from baseline to week 4 was graded. The positive predictive value (PPV) for SVR was evaluated according to the magnitude of HCV viral decline at week 4.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and fifty patients were included. Thirty-four (22.6%) patients achieved RVR, 33 of these (PPV [CI 95%]; 97.05% [86.34-99.85]) achieved SVR. In those patients who did not achieve RVR, the probability to achieving SVR was graded according to the magnitude of viral decline at week 4 (>2 log10 [55.5%], >2.5 log10 [73.3%] and >3 log10 [75%]). The combination of undetectable and magnitude of decline (>2.5 log10) had a PPV for SVR of 89.8% (CI 95%; 0.794-0.964).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The combination of undetectable HCV viral load and magnitude of decline at week 4 has a high PPV for SVR and identified a higher number of potential Peg-IFN/RBV responders.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Infectious Diseases, Instituto Maimonides de Investigación Biomedica de Córdoba (IMIBIC), Hospital Universitario Reina Sofia, Cordoba, Spain.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rivero-Juarez
authors.affiliation: Unit of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (IBiS), Hospital Universitario de Valme, Seville 41014, Spain.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Neukam
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Hospital Carlos III, Madrid 28029, Spain.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Labarga
authors.affiliation: Unit of Infectious Diseases, Instituto Maimonides de Investigación Biomedica de Córdoba (IMIBIC), Hospital Universitario Reina Sofia, Cordoba, Spain.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Camacho
authors.affiliation: Unit of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (IBiS), Hospital Universitario de Valme, Seville 41014, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Macias
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Hospital Carlos III, Madrid 28029, Spain.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Barreiro
authors.affiliation: Unit of Infectious Diseases, Instituto Maimonides de Investigación Biomedica de Córdoba (IMIBIC), Hospital Universitario Reina Sofia, Cordoba, Spain.
authors.forename: Julián
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Torre-Cisneros
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Hospital Carlos III, Madrid 28029, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Pineda
authors.affiliation: Unit of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (IBiS), Hospital Universitario de Valme, Seville 41014, Spain.
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Soriano
authors.affiliation: Unit of Infectious Diseases, Instituto Maimonides de Investigación Biomedica de Córdoba (IMIBIC), Hospital Universitario Reina Sofia, Cordoba, Spain. Electronic address: ariveror@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rivero
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D060085:Coinfection / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications*; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007372:Interferons / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D012254:Ribavirin; D007372:Interferons
keywords: HCV; HIV; Rapid virological response; Sustained virological response; Viral decline