Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy (Jun 2022)

Negative impact of HIV infection on broad-spectrum anti-HCV neutralizing antibody titers in HCV-infected patients with advanced HCV-related cirrhosis

  • Daniel Sepúlveda-Crespo,
  • María Belén Yélamos,
  • Cristina Díez,
  • Julián Gómez,
  • Víctor Hontañón,
  • Francisco Torresano-Felipe,
  • Juan Berenguer,
  • Juan González-García,
  • Luis Ibañez-Samaniego,
  • Elva Llop,
  • Antonio Olveira,
  • Javier Martínez,
  • Salvador Resino,
  • Isidoro Martínez

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 150
p. 113024

Abstract

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Objectives: The current study aimed to assess the impact of HIV on the production of anti-HCV antibodies in HCV-infected individuals with advanced HCV-related cirrhosis before and 36 weeks after the sustained virological response (SVR) induced by direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) therapy. Methods: Prospective study on 62 patients (50 HIV/HCV-coinfected and 12 HCV-monoinfected). Plasma anti-E2 and HCV-nAbs were determined respectively by ELISA and microneutralization assays. Results: At baseline, the HCV-group had higher anti-E2 levels against Gt1a (p = 0.012), Gt1b (p = 0.023), and Gt4a (p = 0.005) than the HIV/HCV-group. After SVR, anti-E2 titers against Gt1a (p < 0.001), Gt1b (p = 0.001), and Gt4a (p = 0.042) were also higher in the HCV-group than HIV/HCV-group. At 36 weeks post-SVR, plasma anti-E2 titers decreased between 1.3 and 1.9-fold in the HIV/HCV-group (p < 0.001) and between 1.5 and 1.8-fold in the HCV-group (p ≤ 0.001). At baseline, the HCV-group had higher titers of HCV-nAbs against Gt1a (p = 0.022), Gt1b (p = 0.002), Gt2a (p < 0.001), and Gt4a (p < 0.001) than the HIV/HCV-group. After SVR, HCV-nAbs titers against Gt1a (p = 0.014), Gt1b (p < 0.001), Gt2a (p = 0.002), and Gt4a (p = 0.004) were also higher in the HCV-group. At 36 weeks post-SVR, HCV-nAbs decreased between 2.6 and 4.1-fold in the HIV/HCV-group (p < 0.001) and between 1.9 and 4.0-fold in the HCV-group (p ≤ 0.001). Conclusions: HIV/HCV-coinfected patients produced lower levels of broad-spectrum anti-HCV antibodies than HCV-monoinfected patients.

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