Chronic hepatitis C in children with HIV infection: disease phenotype and efficacy of antiviral therapy

Objective. To analyze the course of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and efficacy of its treatment in children with HIV infection. Patients and methods. This study included 29 children aged 12 to 17 years (mean age 15.1 ± 0.2 years) with perinatal HIV infection and CHC. HIV stages were distributed as follows: stage 4A in 24 individuals (82.8%), stage 4B in 4 individuals (13.8%), and stage 4B in 1 individual (3.4%). All 29 patients received antiretroviral therapy. The distribution of children by HCV genotypes was as follows: 1a in one child (3.4%), 1b in 12 children (41.4%), and 3a in 16 children (55.2%). Antiviral therapy for CHC included glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (3 tablets; 100 mg + 40 mg) once a day for 56 days. Data analysis was performed using the Statistica for Windows software (version 10.0). Results. The mean HCV RNA level was 595,666 ± 34,734 IU/mL (range: 1,100–3,863,025 IU/mL). After 4, 8, or 12 weeks of antiviral therapy for HCV, HCV RNA clearance was achieved in all study participants (p = 0.01). Before treatment initiation, mean CD4+ count was 738 ± 34 cells/μL (above 500 cells/μL), which indicated the absence of immunodeficiency in the group analyzed. Successful antiviral therapy for HCV (sustained virologic response at week 12; SVR 12) also resulted in increase of the CD4+ lymphocytes level, which was considered as a positive effect of glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (p = 0.15). We observed significant differences in the level of liver enzymes (ALT and AST) (p = 0.01) between samples collected before antiviral therapy initiation and those collected during treatment, as well as 12 weeks after its completion (SVR12). All children demonstrated good tolerance of glecaprevir/pibrentasvir; none of them had adverse events, complaints, or clinical/laboratory changes. Conclusion. Thus, all children with HIV infection and CHC achieved SVR12 after the 8-week course of antiviral therapy with glecaprevir/pibrentasvir regardless of HCV genotype. Clinical manifestations (hepatosplenomegaly in 62.1%; asthenovegetative syndrome in 31.0%) were eliminated after 8 weeks of therapy. Laboratory manifestations (hepatic cytolysis (AST/ALT)) were normalized after 4 weeks of therapy. Antiviral treatment for HCV resulted in some increase in the level of CD4+ lymphocytes. We observed no adverse events caused by glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (neither clinical symptoms nor changes in complete blood count or liver function tests), which confirms the safety of this treatment regimen. Key words: antiretroviral therapy, HIV infection, children, direct-acting antivirals, chronic hepatitis C