[Treatment of hepatitis C virus in HIV-positive patients]

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV)-HIV coinfection currently occurs in more than 30% of HIV-positive patients in Spain. Nowadays, the treatment of choice for chronic hepatitis due to HCV infection in HIV-positive patients is pegylated interferon plus ribavirin. This combination achieves an overall cure rate of 50%, which is somewhat lower than those obtained in patients with HCV monoinfection. Adverse effects are frequent, leading to treatment withdrawal in 10-20% of patients. Importantly, there are three new features of hepatitis C in patients with HIV: (1) the recent development of epidemic outbreaks of acute hepatitis due to HCV infection in HIV-positive men caused by homosexual activity, (2) pharmacogenetic markers in the form of genetic polymorphisms near the IL28B gene related to response to HCV treatment as well as spontaneous eradication of HCV after acute infection, and (3) new antiviral molecules have allowed triple combination treatments to be designed and the preliminary results of clinical trials reporting high response rates are highly promising.