Background: HCV RNA viral load is an important predictor of sustained virological response and, recently, a significant\ncorrelation with liver fibrosis was described. We investigated on possible influence of clinical and viro-immunological\nvariables on HCV viral load in HIV-HCV co-infected patients over a study time of three years (2009-2012).\nMethods: We retrospectively enrolled 98 adult patients with a diagnosis of chronic HIV infection in 2009, a diagnosis of\nchronic HCV infection with a detectable plasma HCV RNA in 2009 and 2012, HCV therapy-na�¯ve or with failed and\nstopped antiviral treatment before June 2008. The following variables were recorded: age, gender, HCV genotype, IL28B\nrs12979860 CC genotype, HCV treatment status, advanced liver fibrosis diagnosis, antiretroviral therapy, CD4+ cell count,\nHCV viral load, HIV RNA (plasma HIV-1 RNA levels were measured from blood samples every three months at least). The\ncorrelation was established using linear regression analysis, analysis of variance and Fisherâ��s exact test. Comparisons\nbetween groups were performed using Fisherâ��s exact test, the independent samples t-test and the t-test for paired data,\nas appropriate, for continuous variables. A mixed mode (ME) maximum likelihood linear regression model was\nconstructed to evaluate the dependence of HCV viral load.\nResults: HCV RNA levels did not change significantly from 2009 to 2012 (from 3924650 �± 5320177 IU/ml to 3085128 �±\n3372347 IU/ml, p = 0.13); the CD4+ count increased significantly (from a mean of 576 to a mean of 654, p = 0.003). Using\nlinear regression, a positive correlation was observed for HCV load and genotype 1 (p = 0.002), nonresponder status\n(p = 0.04) and with interleukin 28B CC allele (p = 0.05). Other studied covariates failed to reach a significant correlation.\nConclusions: The HCV RNA load, a known pretreatment predictor of response to antiviral therapy, was independent of\nthe two main parameters of HIV disease, plasma HIV RNA and CD4 cell count, over an observation time of 3 years in\npatients with recovered or spontaneously maintained immunocompetence.
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