Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Oct 16;12(10):1248.
doi: 10.3390/pathogens12101248.

Screening for Hepatitis C Virus Reinfection Using a Behaviour-Based Risk Score among Men Who Have Sex with Men with HIV: Results from a Case-Control Diagnostic Validation Study

Kris Hage  1   2   3 , Marita van de Kerkhof  1   4 , Anders Boyd  1   5 , Joanne M Carson  6 , Astrid M Newsum  1   3 , Amy Matser  1   3 , Marc van der Valk  3   5 , Kees Brinkman  7 , Joop E Arends  8   9 , Fanny N Lauw  10 , Bart J A Rijnders  11 , Arne van Eeden  12 , Marianne Martinello  6 , Gail V Matthews  6 , Janke Schinkel  13 , Maria Prins  1   3
Affiliations

Screening for Hepatitis C Virus Reinfection Using a Behaviour-Based Risk Score among Men Who Have Sex with Men with HIV: Results from a Case-Control Diagnostic Validation Study

Kris Hage et al. Pathogens. .

Abstract

We assessed the predictive capacity of the HCV-MOSAIC risk score, originally developed for primary early HCV infection, as a screening tool for HCV reinfection in 103 men who have sex with men (MSM) with HIV using data from the MOSAIC cohort, including MSM with HIV/HCV-coinfection who became reinfected (cases, n = 27) or not (controls, n = 76) during follow-up. The overall predictive capacity of the score was assessed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve. The effects of covariates on the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were assessed using parametric ROC regression. The score cut-off validated for primary early infection (≥2.0) was used, from which the sensitivity and specificity were calculated. The AUROC was 0.74 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.63-0.84). Group sex significantly increased the predictive capacity. Using the validated cut-off, sensitivity was 70.4% (95%CI = 49.8-86.2%) and specificity was 59.2% (95%CI: 47.3-70.4%). External validation from a cohort of 25 cases and 111 controls, all MSM with HIV, resulted in a sensitivity of 44.0% (95%CI = 24.4-65.1) and specificity of 71.2% (95%CI = 61.8-79.4). The HCV-MOSAIC risk score may be useful for identifying individuals at risk of HCV reinfection. In sexual health or HIV-care settings, this score could help guide HCV-RNA testing in MSM with a prior HCV infection.

Keywords: HCV; HCV reinfection; HIV/hepatitis C virus coinfection; MSM; risk behaviour.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

J.S.’s institution has received research support and consultancy fees from Gilead and a speaker’s fee from Janssen Pharmaceuticals, independent from the submitted work. M. P.’s institution has received speaker fees and independent scientific support from Gilead Sciences, Roche, MSD, and Abbvie outside the submitted work. M. V.’s institution has received consultancy fees from Gilead, MSD, and ViiV outside the submitted work and research grants from Gilead, Merck Sharp Dome, and ViiV. K. B. has served on (inter)national advisory boards for Gilead, ViiV, Janssen, and MSD outside the submitted work. B. R. has received grants from MSD and Gilead Sciences and participated in advisory boards and received travel support from MSD, Janssen-Cilag, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, Pfizer, and ViiV Healthcare outside the submitted work. All other authors report no potential conflicts. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Non-parametric receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of the HCV-MOSAIC risk score for reinfection in the training dataset. ROC, receiver operating characteristic.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Parametric ROC curve for the HCV-MOSAIC risk score according to engaging in group sex in the training dataset.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Non-parametric receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of the HCV-MOSAIC risk score for reinfection in the external validation dataset. ROC, receiver operating characteristic.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Platt L., Easterbrook P., Gower E., McDonald B., Sabin K., McGowan C., Yanny I., Razavi H., Vickerman P. Prevalence and burden of HCV co-infection in people living with HIV: A global systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Infect. Dis. 2016;16:797–808. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(15)00485-5. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hagan H., Jordan A.E., Neurer J., Cleland C.M. Incidence of sexually transmitted hepatitis C virus infection in HIV-positive men who have sex with men. AIDS. 2015;29:2335–2345. doi: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000000834. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Smit C., Boyd A., Rijnders B.J.A., van de Laar T.J.W., Leyten E.M., Bierman W.F., Brinkman K., Claassen M.A.A., Boerekamps A., Newsum A.M., et al. HCV micro-elimination in individuals with HIV in the Netherlands 4 years after universal access to direct-acting antivirals: A retrospective cohort study. Lancet HIV. 2021;8:e96–e105. doi: 10.1016/S2352-3018(20)30301-5. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Garvey L.J., Cooke G.S., Smith C., Stingone C., Ghosh I., Dakshina S., Jain L., Waters L.J., Mahungu T., Ferro F., et al. Decline in Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Incidence in Men Who Have Sex With Men Living With Human Immunodeficiency Virus: Progress to HCV Microelimination in the United Kingdom? Clin. Infect. Dis. 2021;72:233–238. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa021. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Salazar-Vizcaya L., Kouyos R.D., Metzner K.J., Caraballo Cortes K., Boni J., Shah C., Fehr J., Braun D.L., Bernasconi E., Mbunkah H.A., et al. Changing Trends in International Versus Domestic HCV Transmission in HIV-Positive Men Who Have Sex With Men: A Perspective for the Direct-Acting Antiviral Scale-Up Era. J. Infect. Dis. 2019;220:91–99. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiz069. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources