Short Communication: CXCL12 rs1029153 Polymorphism Is Associated with the Sustained Virological Response in HIV/Hepatitis C Virus-Coinfected Patients on Hepatitis C Virus Therapy.

The immune response against HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection partly depends on chemokine-mediated recruitment of specific T cells. CXCL12 polymorphisms have been associated with AIDS progression and survival, but there are no data related to HCV infection. The aim of this study was to determine whether CXCL12 polymorphisms are related so as to achieve sustained virological response (SVR) after HCV therapy with pegylated-interferon-alpha/ribavirin (pegIFN-α/ribavirin) in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients. We carried out a retrospective study in 319 naive patients who started HCV treatment. The CXCL12 (rs266093, rs1029153, and rs1801157) and IL28B (rs12980275) polymorphisms were genotyped by using the GoldenGate assay. Genetic data were analyzed under an additive inheritance model. The overall rates of the SVR were 54.9% (175/319) and 41.5% (90/217) in GT1/4 patients and 83.2% (84/101) in GT2/3 patients. Patients with a favorable CXCL12 rs1029153 T allele had higher SVR rates than patients with the rs1029153 CC genotype (44% CC, 49% CT, and 61.3% TT; p = 0.025). No significant results for the rs266093 and rs1801157 polymorphisms were found. Patients harboring the favorable rs1029153 T allele had significantly increased odds of achieving SVR [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.55; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 1.01; 2.40; p = 0.047]. Moreover, no significant association was found when the study population was stratified by HCV genotype (data not shown), possibly due to the low number of patients in each group. In conclusion, in this study we found that the favorable CXCL12 rs1029153 T allele seems to be related so as to achieve an SVR in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients on pegIFN-α/ribavirin therapy.