Influence of human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 coinfection on the development of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with hepatitis C virus infection

Abstract

HTLV-1 coinfection may contribute to the development of HCC in patients with chronic HCV infection, especially in females.

Hepatitis C virus and human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 co-infection: impact on liver disease, virological markers, and neurological outcomes

“…23 The present study data, however, do not support this hypothesis, since there was no difference in HTLV-1 PVL or HCV viremia among the groups. Tokunaga et al 43 also described an increased risk of HCC during HCV/HTLV-1 co-infection, but only in female patients. Of note, most of the HCV/HTLV-1 co-infected individuals in the present study group were male.…”

“…The relevance of HCV/HTLV-1 co-infection in liver disease in patients with chronic hepatitis C has been evaluated in prospective and retrospective studies in Japan. 23,43 These studies reported that HTLV-1 was found to worsen the clinical course of HCV infection, contributing to the development of HCC in these patients. The authors suggest that an impaired T-cell response resulting from HTLV-1 infection may interfere with HCV clearance during coinfection, leading to chronic liver damage and an increased risk of hepatocarcinogenesis.…”

Hepatitis C virus/human T lymphotropic virus 1/2 co-infection: Regional burden and virological outcomes in people who inject drugs

“…Other Japanese studies of HCV/HTLV-1 co-infection in PWID showed associations with liver disease (6-fold increased risk) [18] and liver cancer mortality (2.6-fold increased risk) [19] , leading to the hypothesis of an HTLV-1-induced immune modulation and inflammatory cytokine dysregulation that could affect HCV persistence and progression to liver disease [20,21] . In contrast to the Japanese findings, however, two Brazilian studies [22,23] of HCV/HTLV-1 co-infection provide epidemiological and immunological evidence of a higher rate of spontaneous clearance of HCV in patients with HIV/HTLV-1 co-infection as compared to patients harbouring only an HIV/HCV co-infection or an HCV mono-infection.…”

Absence of HTLV-1/2 infection among HCV-infected patients with no HIV-1/2 infection in Spain

“…Only one study performed in an endemic area, Japan, showed a high prevalence of HTLV-1 among HCV-infected individuals (21.1% and 10.5% with or without hepatocellular carcinoma, respectively) [3].…”