Altered peripheral immune cell profile and activation status in the context of chronic HCV mono- and HCV/HIV co-infection.

VALVA P; AMEIGEIRAS B; VISTARINI C; CALDIROLA MS, ; GIADANS C,; VALVA P; AMEIGEIRAS B; VISTARINI C; CALDIROLA MS, ; GIADANS C,; DE MATTEO ELENA; PIETRANTONIO ADRIANA; PRECIADO MV.; FRIAS S; GAILLARD MI; RODRÍGUEZ BROGGI GUADALUPE; NESTOR LUCATELLI ; RIOS D; ESNAOLA AZCOITI MARÍA, ; DE MATTEO ELENA; PIETRANTONIO ADRIANA; MARTINEZ MARÍA PAULA,; FRIAS S; PRECIADO MV.; RODRÍGUEZ BROGGI GUADALUPE; GAILLARD MI; RIOS D; NESTOR LUCATELLI ; ESNAOLA AZCOITI MARÍA, ; MARTINEZ MARÍA PAULA,

Congreso; 28th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID); 2018

European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID)

- BackgroundChronic HCV and HIV co-infection represent an important global health problem. Since HCV chronic infection perturbs immune homeostasis due to persistent antigenic exposure and HIV directly affect immune response, our aim was to evaluate the peripheral immune lymphocyte profile and their activation and differentiation status in HCV mono- and HCV/HIV co-infected patients to determine the effect of co-infection in the HCV immune profile.- Materials/methodsLiver biopsies (47=HCV treatment naïve, 13=HCV/HIV only HAART) and concomitant blood samples were analysed. In peripheral blood: 1) frequency of T helper (Th, CD3+CD4+), cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL, CD3+CD8+) and Natural Killer cells (NK, CD3-CD56+CD16+); 2) CTL and Th differentiation status [naïve (CD27+CD45RA+), central-memory (CD27+CD45RA-), effector-memory (CD27-CD45RA-), effector (CD27-CD45RA+) and activated (DR+)]; 3) frequencies of Th17 (CD4+IL17A+), Th1 (CD4+IFN+) and Treg (CD4+CD25hiFoxp3+) and 4) NK and CTL degranulation activity (CD107a) were evaluated by FACS. Non-infected donors (n=33) were included. Liver damage was assessed in liver biopsies using the modified Knodell scoring system and METAVIR. - ResultsWhile HCV patients did not display differences in each lymphocyte frequencies compared to donors, co-infected patients showed the lowest Th (donor vs HCV/HIV p