Undetectable hepatitis C virus RNA at week 4 as predictor of sustained virological response in HIV patients with chronic hepatitis C

Abstract

Undetectable HCV-RNA at week 4 is the best predictor of curing chronic hepatitis C in HCV/HIV-co-infected patients. In HCV-1 patients, baseline HCV-RNA also predicts response. HIV patients with HCV-3 and RVR may permit shortening therapy duration to only 24 weeks of pegIFN plus 1000-1200 mg ribavirin.

Successful treatment of acute hepatitis C virus in HIV positive patients using the European AIDS Treatment Network guidelines for treatment duration

“…An undetectable HCV viral load 4 weeks into treatment (rapid virological response: RVR) is a strong predictor of subsequent SVR in patients with chronic HCV infection. 11 Recent guidelines published by NEAT 1 define acute HCV infection as having occurred in the previous twelve months. Given that up to 15% of acutely infected patients will clear the virus spontaneously, 12 a period of 12 weeks of monitoring is recommended by NEAT.…”

Performance evaluation of the QIAGEN EZ1 DSP Virus Kit with Abbott RealTime HIV-1, HBV and HCV assays

“…A sensitive and accurate quantification of the respective viral RNA or DNA level is crucial for the identification of patients who need to be treated, for the decision about treatment duration, and for monitoring the virologic response and resistance to antiviral treatment. [1][2][3][4] Further, such quantitative data can be informative in establishing a prognosis of e.g. chronic HBV-related liver disease or hepatocellular carcinoma.…”

HCV and Drug Use – What Can Be Learned from the Failure to Control This Epidemic?

“…Our finding of a significantly better SVR of genotype 1 infected DUs treated by buprenorphine as compared to methadone remains to be explored in a prospective study exploring that difference (73). An "à la carte" adaptation of the duration of treatment has been proposed for genotype 1 following the time of RNA clearance at 4, 12 or 32 weeks followed by respective treatment duration of 24, 48 or 72 weeks which has been confirmed for HIV/HCV coinfections (74,75). For patients with advanced diseases, treatment has been completed thanks to the use of growth factors which improved their tolerance (76)).…”