Impaired hepatitis C virus (HCV)-specific interferon-responses in individuals with HIV who acquire HCV infection: Correlation with CD4+ T-cell counts

Abstract

Studies examining the effect of coinfection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) on the HCV-specific immune response in acute HCV infection are limited. This study directly compared acute HCV-specific T-cell responses and cytokine profiles between 20 HIV/HCV-coinfected and 20 HCV-monoinfected subjects, enrolled in the Australian Trial in Acute Hepatitis C (ATAHC), using HCV peptide enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) and multiplex in vitro cytokine production assays. HIV/HCV coinfection had a detrimental effect on the HCV-specific cytokine production in acute HCV infection, particularly on HCV-specific interferon (IFN-) production (magnitude P =. 004; breadth P =. 046), which correlated with peripheral CD4+ T-cell counts ( = 0.605; P =. 005) but not with detectable HIV viremia ( = 0.152; P =. 534). © 2012 The Author.