| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of this study was to explore the effects of HCV co-infection on virological effectiveness and on CD4+ T-cell recovery in patients with an early and sustained virological response after HAART.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed a longitudinal analysis of 3,262 patients from the MASTER cohort, who started HAART from 2000 to 2008. Patients were stratified into 6 groups by HCV status and type of anchor class. The early virological outcome was the achievement of HIV RNA <500 copies/ml 4–8 months after HAART initiation. Time to virological response was also evaluated by Kaplan-Meier analysis. The main outcome measure of early immunological response was the achievement of CD4+ T-cell increase by ≥100/mm<sup>3</sup> from baseline to month 4–8 in virological responder patients. Late immunological outcome was absolute variation of CD4+ T-cell count with respect to baseline up to month 24. Multivariable analysis (ANCOVA) investigated predictors for this outcome.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The early virological response was higher in HCV Ab-negative than HCV Ab-positive patients prescribed PI/r (92.2% <it>versus</it> 88%; <it>p</it> = 0.01) or NNRTI (88.5% <it>versus</it> 84.7%; <it>p</it> = 0.06). HCV Ab-positive serostatus was a significant predictor of a delayed virological suppression independently from other variables, including types of anchor class. Reactivity for HCV antibodies was associated with a lower probability of obtaining ≥100/mm<sup>3</sup> CD4+ increase within 8 months from HAART initiation in patients treated with PI/r (62.2% among HCV Ab-positive patients <it>versus</it> 70.9% among HCV Ab-negative patients; <it>p</it> = 0.003) and NNRTI (63.7% <it>versus</it> 74.7%; <it>p</it> < 0.001). Regarding late CD4+ increase, positive HCV Ab appeared to impair immune reconstitution in terms of absolute CD4+ T-cell count increase both in patients treated with PI/r (<it>p</it> = 0.013) and in those treated with NNRTI (<it>p</it> = 0.002). This was confirmed at a multivariable analysis up to 12 months of follow-up.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In this large cohort, HCV Ab reactivity was associated with an inferior virological outcome and an independent association between HCV Ab-positivity and smaller CD4+ increase was evident up to 12 months of follow-up. Although the difference in CD4+ T-cell count was modest, a stricter follow-up and optimization of HAART strategy appear to be important in HIV patients co-infected by HCV. Moreover, our data support anti-HCV treatment leading to HCV eradication as a means to facilitate the achievement of the viro-immunological goals of HAART.</p>
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