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HCV recovery from peripheral blood mononuclear cell culture supernatants derived from HCV–HIV co‐infected haemophilic patients with undetectable HCV viraemia
Author(s) -
Baré P.,
Massud I.,
Belmonte L.,
Corti M.,
Villafañe M.,
Pérez Bianco R.,
De Tezanospinto M.,
De Bracco M. M. E.,
RuibalAres B.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
haemophilia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.213
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1365-2516
pISSN - 1351-8216
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2516.2003.00808.x
Subject(s) - hepatitis c virus , virology , peripheral blood mononuclear cell , medicine , viral load , viremia , immunology , hepatitis c , hepacivirus , virus , viral disease , immune system , biology , in vitro , biochemistry
Summary. Hepatitis C viraemia, in 38 human immunodeficiency virus positive (HIV+)/hepatitis C virus positive (HCV+) patients, was determined in haemophilic patients during the 4 years since initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Six of 38 patients had persistently HCV‐negative viraemia for more than 2 years. No correlation between HCV‐negative viraemia and CD4+ T‐cell counts, HIV viral load, age, type or severity of haemophilia could be established. Reduced levels of HIV viral load and the immune reconstitution that follows the initiation of HAART were not enough to explain the disappearance of HCV from plasma. Individuals who cleared plasma HCV had significantly higher CD8+ T‐cell counts ( P = 0.0013) (mean ± SE: 1153 ± 117.8cells μ L −1 ) than those with HCV‐positive viraemia (819.1 ± 40.72 cells μ L −1 ). Because HCV could maintain a low replication level in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), we cultured PBMC of five of six patients with undetectable HCV viraemia. We found four of five HCV RNA‐positive cultures. The presence of HCV RNA in our cultures proved that these cells may be an important viral reservoir that could contribute to HCV recurrence in plasma even after long periods of negative viraemia. In summary, our results indicate that in spite of prolonged HCV‐negative plasma viraemia, HCV patients that are co‐infected with HIV may harbour replication‐competent HCV in their PBMC. Therefore, true clearance of HCV infection is difficult to achieve in these patients.