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HLA-B18 as a risk factor of short-term progression to severe liver fibrosis in HIV/HCV co-infected patients with absent or minimal fibrosis: implications for timing of therapy

The Pharmacogenomics Journal volume 17, pages 551–555 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Our aim was to analyze the influence of HLA-B haplotypes on liver fibrosis progression in HIV/hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infected patients. Retrospective longitudinal study including HIV/HCV, non-cirrhotic and HCV treatment-naïve patients. The main outcome variable was liver fibrosis progression of at least one stage. One hundred and four patients constituted the study population (F0–F1: 62 (59.6%); F2: 22 (21.2%); F3: 20 (19.2%)). During a median follow-up of 54.5 months (IQR: 26.2–77), 45 patients (43.3%) showed an increase in the stage of liver fibrosis (time to event: 29 (IQR: 14–49.5) months). HLA-B18pos patients more frequently had a higher and faster fibrosis progression rate (73.3%; 24 (IQR: 8–29) months) than HLA-B18neg patients (38.2%; 34.5 (IQR: 14.7–51.2) months). This association was also observed in the development of F3–F4 fibrosis among F0–F2 patients (HLA-B18pos: 69.2%; 18 (6.5–37) months vs HLA-B18neg: 28.2%; 37 (IQR: 19–52) months). These results could impact the timing of HCV therapy in F0–F2 patients.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Laura Ruiz and Ismael Zafra for their technical support for this study. This study was funded by the Fundación Progreso y Salud, Consejería de Salud de la Junta de Andalucía (grants for health research projects: 0430/2012), the ISCIII-Subdirección General de Evaluación and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo (ISCIII-RETIC RD06/006 and RD12/0017). AR received a Research Extension Grant from the Consejería de Salud, Innovación y Ciencia de la Junta de Andalucía. AR-J was the recipient of a Post-Doctoral Research Extension Grant from the Fundación Progreso y Salud, Consejería de Salud, Innovación y Ciencia de la Junta de Andalucia (RH-0024-2013 CSIPS-POSTDOCTORALES Y GRUPOS). JAP. has received a research extension grant from the Programa de Intensificación de la Actividad de Investigación del Servicio Nacional de Salud Carlos III (I3SNS). J.M. is the recipient of a grant from the Servicio Andaluz de Salud de la Junta de Andalucía (B-0037). AG is the recipient of a Research Network Support Grant from the Fundación Progreso y Salud (Consejería de Salud, Innovación y Ciencia de la Junta de Andalucia; AC-0095-2013, AYUDAS A GRUPOS DE INVESTIGACION).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Infectious Diseases Unit, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía de Córdoba, Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (IMIBIC), Universidad de Córdoba (UCO), Cordoba, Spain

    M Frías, D Rodríguez-Cano, F Cuenca-López, A Gordon, Á Camacho, J Torre-Cisneros, A Rivero-Juárez & A Rivero

  2. Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Unit, Hospital Universitario de Valme, Seville, Spain

    J Macías & J A Pineda

  3. Immunology Unit, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía de Córdoba, Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (IMIBIC), Universidad de Córdoba (UCO), Cordoba, Spain

    B Manzanares-Martín & J Peña

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  1. M Frías
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Correspondence to A Rivero-Juárez.

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Competing interests

Neither the authors nor their institution received any payment or services from a third party for any aspect of the submitted work at any time (for example, data monitoring board, study design, manuscript preparation and statistical analysis). Outside the submitted work, AR received consulting fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Abbott, Gilead, Roche, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck Sharp & Dohme and Janssen-Cilag. He also received lecture fees from GlaxoSmithKline, Roche, Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim and Schering-Plough. The remaining authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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The funding institutions had no influence on the design or performance of the study; on the collection, managament, analysis or interpretation of the data; or on the preparation, review or approval of the manuscript.

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Frías, M., Rodríguez-Cano, D., Cuenca-López, F. et al. HLA-B18 as a risk factor of short-term progression to severe liver fibrosis in HIV/HCV co-infected patients with absent or minimal fibrosis: implications for timing of therapy. Pharmacogenomics J 17, 551–555 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/tpj.2016.42

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