Received 6 April 2009; accepted 13 June 2009. published online 22 June 2009.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause of chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, and death; it is estimated that 180 million persons are infected with HCV worldwide. The consequences of HCV are worse in those who are coinfected with human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1), which is unfortunately a common scenario because of shared risk factors of the viruses. More studies into effects of HCV/HIV-1 coinfection are needed, but efforts have been hampered by limitations in our understanding of the combined pathogenesis of the 2 viruses. Gaining insight into the mechanisms that underlie the immunopathogenesis of these persistent viral infections could lead to new therapeutic strategies for patients with HCV/HIV-1 coinfection.
⁎Division of Infectious Diseases and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard (formerly known as the Partners AIDS Research Center), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
‡Gastrointestinal Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
Reprint requests Address requests for reprints to: Arthur Y. Kim, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, Cox 5, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114
Reprint requests Address requests for reprints to: Raymond T. Chung, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, Warren 1007, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114
Conflicts of interest The authors disclose the following: R.T.C. receives research grant support from Roche Labs and Schering-Plough. A.Y.K. discloses no conflicts.
Funding Supported by National Institutes of Health grants U19 AI066345 and K23 AI054379 (to A.Y.K.) and National Institutes of Health grants R01 AI069939 and K24 DK078772-02 (to R.T.C.).
ABSTRACT
Coinfection With HIV-1 and HCV—A One-Two Punch