INFLUENCE OF HEPATITIS C COINFECTION ON IMMUNE ACTIVATION IN HIV VIRAL SUPPRESSED SUBJECTS

BADANO MARÍA NOEL; ALOISI NATALIA; CORTI MARCELO; VIOLA LUIS; E DE BRACCO M MARTA; BARÉ PATRICIA

Congreso; Reunión anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica (SAIC); 2016

Despite effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) achieves Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) viral suppression, a high immune activation levels may persist in HIV infected patients.We investigated the presence of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) as a possible factor contributing to the immune activation in HIV suppressed patients coinfected with HCV. Patients were grouped according to HCV viral load and to the non-invasive markers of liver fibrosis (APRI, FORNS and FIB-4) as follows: patients that cleared HCV and display low liver indexes (G1), patients with detectable HCV viral load and low liver indexes (G2) and patients with detectable HCV viral load and high liver indexes (G3).IL-10 and IL-2 plasma levels and CD4/CD8 ratios were analyzed as markers of immune activation and liver fibrosis in HIV/HCV patients. Healthy blood donors were used as controls (C). Statistical analysis was performed with Kruskal-Wallis test and Dunn?s post-test to compare differences between groups.Similar IL-10 and IL-2 levels were found in G1, G2 and control groups. However, G3 displayed significantly higher IL-10 (G1: 5.1; G2: 6.3; G3: 11.3, C: 6.4 pg/ml; p