Abstract: Objective To investigate the anti-HCV treatment with peginterferon α-2b combined with ribavirin (PR), induced virological response, liver dysfunction and adverse drug reactions in HIV/HCV co-infected patients. Methods Clinical data of HIV/HCV co-infected patients in our hospital were collected,and comparative analysis in the biochemical changes, virological changes and immunological indices alteration between patients treated with PR regimen and those without anti-HCV treatment were performed. Result There were 56 cases with HIV/HCV co-infection, including 26 cases (46.4%) treated with PR regimen and 24 cases (42.9%) without anti-HCV treatment. Among them, 16 cases (61.5%) receiving PR regimens have completed the 24-week cycle of treatment. At the end of 24 weeks after the initiation of anti HCV treatment, all 16 patients were presented with HCV RNA <15IU/ml. The proportion of patients with abnormal liver function was decreased from 68.8% prior to the treatment to 25% at the completion of treatment (P<0.05). After the completion of 24-week treatment, FIB-4 score of patients receiving PR regimen was significantly lower than that of untreated patients (P<0.05). CD4⁺T cell count in the treatment group was significantly higher than that of untreated patients(P<0.05). Conclusions PR regimen can be used for the treatment of HIV/HCV co-infected patients with good virology, hematological and immunological responses.

Key words: Human immunodeficiency virus, Hepatitis C virus, Co-Infection, Peginterferon alfa-2b injection, Efficacy