Presence of different hepatitis C virus genotypes in plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples of Iranian patients with HIV infection. Issue 8 (23rd April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dehghani‐Dehej, Farzaneh; Sarvari, Jamal; Esghaei, Maryam; Hosseini, Seyed Y.; Garshasbi, Saba; Kalantari, Saeed; Monavari, Seyed H.; Fakhim, Atousa; Keyvani, Hossein; Bokharaei‐Salim, Farah
• Is Part Of: Journal of medical virology. Volume 90:Issue 8(2018)
• Page Start: 1343
• Page End: 1351
• Publication Date: 2018-04-23
• Subjects: hepatitis C virus (HCV) -- HIV/HCV co‐infection -- human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); Virology -- Periodicals; 616
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.24925
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0146-6615

Abstract

Abstract : Due to the similar routes of transmission, individuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) may become infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) simultaneously. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of HCV co‐infection in Iranian individuals with HIV infection, and to genotype HCV in plasma and PBMC specimens of these patients. From September 2015 to October 2016, a total of 140 Iranian individuals with HIV infection were enrolled in this cross‐sectional study. The RNA from plasma and PBMC specimens was extracted, and genomic HCV‐RNA was amplified using RT‐nested PCR with primers that target 5′‐UTR. The HCV genotyping used the RFLP technique. To confirm HCV genotype, 10 randomly selected HCV‐positive samples were also submitted for sequencing. The mean age of patients was 35.7 ± 13.5 years (range: 1‐66). Out of 140 patients, 62 (44.3 %) were positive for anti‐HCV antibodies; among these, viral genomic RNA was detected in 34 (24.3%) and 39 (27.9%) of the plasma and PBMC specimens, respectively. The HCV genotyping showed a similar pattern of subtypes 1a (44% vs 46.2%), 3a (32.4% vs 33.3%), and 1b (17.6% vs 17.9%) in all sera and PBMC samples. It is noteworthy that the HCV genotypes in plasma and PBMC specimens of 6 HCV co‐infected patients were not the same. This study reveals that HIV/HCV co‐infection is high in Iranian patients (44.3%), especially in people who have high‐risk factors (83.9%). Also, HIV/HCV co‐infected individuals may have dissimilar HCV genotypes in their plasma and PBMC specimens.