No Effect of Pegylated Interferon-α on Total HIV-1 DNA Load in HIV-1/HCV Coinfected Patients

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases 2018-05, Vol.217 (12), p.1883-1888
• Main Authors: Strouvelle, Victoria P, Braun, Dominique L, Vongrad, Valentina, Scherrer, Alexandra U, Kok, Yik Lim, Kouyos, Roger D, Stöckle, Marcel, Rauch, Andri, Darling, Katharine, Hoffmann, Matthias, Metzner, Karin J, Günthard, Huldrych F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Antiviral Agents - therapeutic use; Coinfection - drug therapy; Coinfection - virology; DNA, Viral - drug effects; Female; Hepacivirus - drug effects; Hepatitis C, Chronic - drug therapy; Hepatitis C, Chronic - virology; HIV Infections - drug therapy; HIV Infections - virology; HIV-1 - drug effects; Humans; Interferon-alpha - therapeutic use; Leukocytes, Mononuclear - drug effects; Leukocytes, Mononuclear - virology; Male; Middle Aged; Retrospective Studies; Viral Load - drug effects
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiy131

Pegylated interferon-alpha (pIFN-α) is suggested to lower human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) DNA load in antiretroviral therapy (ART)-treated patients. We studied kinetics of HIV-1 DNA levels in 40 HIV-1/hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfected patients, treated with pIFN-α for HCV and categorized into 3 groups according to start of ART: chronic HIV-1 infection (n = 22), acute HIV-1 infection (n = 8), no-ART (n = 10). Total HIV-1 DNA levels in 247 peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples were stable before, during, and after pIFN-α treatment in all groups. Our results question the benefit of pIFN-α as an immunotherapeutic agent for reducing the HIV-1 reservoir.