Abstract
Objective: To investigate the optimal duration of pegylated-alpha interferon (Peg-INFα) combined with ribavirin (RBV) in treating chronic hepatitis C infection in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. Methods: A multicenter prospective study was conducted. The study subjects were divided into two groups; HIV/HCV co-infections (Group A, n = 158) and control with HCV-monoinfections (Group B, n = 60). All recruited patients received standard Peg-INFα plus RBV therapy. Group A was divided into 3 subgroups according to CD4(+) cell counts: A1 subgroup, 79 cases, CD4(+) counts > 350 cells /μl, who received anti-HCV before combination antiretroviral therapy(cART); A2 subgroup, 45 cases, CD4(+) counts between 200 and 350 cells/μl, who did not start anti-HCV until they could tolerate cART well; A3 subgroup, 34 cases, CD4(+) counts < 200 cells /μl, cART was administered first, and anti-HCV therapy was started when CD4(+) counts > 200 cells/μl. The anti-HCV efficacy of two groups and 3 subgroups were compared. Statistical analysis for normal distribution and homogeneity of variance data was calculated by t-test and the counting data was analyzed by χ (2) test. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for non-normal data. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for the comparison of multiple groups, followed by SNK method. Multiple independent samples were used for non-parametric tests. Results: There was no significant difference in age and baseline HCV RNA levels between groups and subgroups (P > 0.05). By an intent-to-treat (ITT) analysis, in Group A, the ratio of complete early virological response (cEVR) rate was 75.3% (119/158), the ratio of end of treatment virological response (eTVR) rate was 68.4% (108/158), and the ratio of sustained virological response (SVR) rate was 48.7% (77/158); in Group B, the ratio of cEVR rate was 93.3% (56/60), the ratio of eTVR rate was 90.0% (54/60), and the ratio of SVR rate was 71.7% (43/60); The therapeutic index of Group A were lower than those of Group B (P≤0.05). By per-protocol (PP) analysis, the ratio of cEVR rate in Group A [75.2% (88/112)] was still lower than that in Group B [93.3% (56/60)], but no significant differences were found in the ratio of eTVR rate and SVR rate between 2 groups (P > 0.05). Comparing the efficacy of subgroups (A1, A2 and A3) by ITT analysis, the ratios of cEVR rate were respectively 78.5% (62/79), 75.6% (34/45) and 67.6% (23/34); the ratios of eTVR rate were respectively 68.4%(54/79), 80.0%(36/45)and 52.9%(18/34); and the ratios of SVR rate were respectively 41.8%(33/79), 64.4%(29/45)and 44.1%(15/34). The ratio of eTVR in subgroup A2 was obviously higher than that in subgroup A3 and the ratio of SVR in subgroup A2 was statistically higher than that of subgroup A1(P≤0.05). However, by PP analysis, no significant differences of the therapeutic indexes were found among the respective subgroups (P > 0.05). Conclusion: HIV-HCV co-infected patients would have better anti-HCV efficacy with Peg-INFα-2a plus RBV than HCV- monoinfected patients. The best time for initiating anti-HCV therapy in HIV-HCV co-infected patients is when CD4(+) counts 200 cells/ μl.