Hepatitis C virus quasispecies in HIV/HCV co-infected women

UnrestrictedHepatitis C Virus (HCV) co-infection is the most important and serious coinfection among persons infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HCV quasispecies heterogeneity and dynamics has been studied in various settings, including those receiving anti-HCV therapy. Quasispecies heterogeneity analysis involves determination of two components of HCV quasispecies heterogeneity: genetic complexity (entropy) and complexity distance (median mobility shift). Despite the high frequency of HCV co-infection, there is little data regarding HCV diversity change among HIV-positive persons. In this study, we use a subset of women enrolled in the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS). 248 women who were HCV-positive, HIV-seropositive but AIDS-free at baseline, had available repository samples to complete the proposed virologic and immunologic evaluations, were not on HAART at baseline were enrolled to assess the relationship between HCV quasispecies, clinical, and demographic features. 75 co-infected women (total 221 visits) who had available samples and at least two years of follow-up were chosen for the longitudinal study on HCV diversity change over time. The results showed that HCV complexity is related to HIV plasma load in HIV/HCV co-infected women. CD8+ cell count in blood is significantly associated with HCV complexity distance. High HCV plasma loads and high CD8+ cell numbers reduce the chance of being more complexity in the later visit. HAART did not have a significant effect on HCV complexity change