HCV VIRAL KINETICS AND DETERMINANTS OF RELAPSE (HIV)

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. For HIV infected patients, Hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection has emerged as a leading cause of mortality and morbidity. Despite recent advances in treatment with the current standard of care (peginterferon and ribavirin), both mono- and coinfected patients frequently do not respond or will relapse despite a favorable initial virologic response. The study of viral kinetics is useful in identifying antivirals' mechanisms of action and efficacy. We will compare HCV decay kinetics in serum and extrahepatic sites among coinfected versus HCV monoinfected patients during the first 12 weeks of pegylated interferon and ribavirin therapy. We hypothesize that coinfected patients will demonstrate a slower decline in HCV RNA in all compartments during therapy compared with mono-infected patients and that this decline in phase 1 and 2 kinetics will predict the frequency of long term response to peginterferon-ribavirin therapy.