ASSESEMENT OF THE SEVERITY OF IMMUNODEFICIENCY IN PATIENTS OF ASIAN ETHNICITY WITH HIV/HCV CO-INFECTION.

The aim of the study was to determine the HIV RNA viral load and CD4+ cell count to assess the severity of immune deficiency in patients of Asian ethnicity with HIV/HCV co-infection by different HCV genotypes. 181 HIV-infected patients of Asian ethnicity were studied from several regions of Kazakhstan, predominantly from Karaganda region, including prisons. The diagnosis of HIV infection was confirmed by immunoblotting after a positive ELISA screening test. The patient data for analysis were extracted from the patients' medical charts. Analysis of peripheral blood and urine, blood biochemistry tests were performed for each patient. The flow cytometry was used to determine the CD3, CD4 and CD8 lymphocytes in the whole blood. Detection and quantification of HCV RNA in clinical samples of serum or plasma was performed by reverse transcription of viral RNA followed by amplification using DNA real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) with hybridization-fluorescence detection of PCR products in real-time. Statistical analysis was performed using STATISTICA software package. Student's t test was used to evaluate the differences between the means. HCV antibodies were detected in 73 patients out of 181. HCV genotyping showed presence of first genotype in 18 (24.7%), genotype 2 in 19 (26.0%) and genotype 3 in 36 (49.3%) patients. The third genotype was the most prevalent according to our study. More severe immunosuppression was observed in patients with HCV genotypes 1 and 3 in comparison with those with HCV genotype 2. HCV infection is a negative risk-factor in the course of HIV infection, accelerating the decrease of CD4+ cells. The greatest risk of progression of HIV infection to AIDS occurs in the presence of HCV genotype 1 and 3 which can be explained by more aggressive course of the disease and a poorer prognosis in comparison with the infection with genotype 2.