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Acute HIV infection may help control chronic HBV
According to researchers from Beijing You’an Hospital, Capital Medical University in China, the effects of acute HIV infection improve the immune response to hepatitis B virus infection.
“Although coinfection with HIV and HBV is common, there are limited data about the effect of acute HIV infection on HBV infection,” the researchers wrote in Clinical Infectious Diseases. “Such a study is especially important, as it may elucidate potential mechanisms for the complications of HIV-HBV coinfection.”
The researchers evaluated stored serum samples from 25 men who have sex with men who had HBV and were part of a clinical cohort study of acute HIV-infected individuals in Beijing. They were HIV-negative at baseline and monitored every 2 months for HIV. The 25 men developed HIV infection during the study. The researchers evaluated their pre-HIV serum samples and acute HIV infection samples for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and HBV DNA.
Three of the men converted from HBsAg-positive before the HIV infection to HBsAg-negative during acute HIV infection. The average HBV DNA levels among the three patients were 4.03 log10 copies/mL before HIV infection, but undetectable after HIV infection. Ten men converted from HBeAg-positive before HIV infection to HBeAg-negative during acute HIV infection. The average HBV DNA of the 10 patients decreased from 6.4 log10 copies/mL before HIV infection to 1.9 log10 copies/mL during the acute HIV infection.
There was no HBV antigen seroconversion among the other 12 patients, but the average HBV DNA levels decreased.
“These data suggest that the early effects of HIV infection are advantageous in controlling HBV infection,” the researchers wrote. “However, further studies are needed to understand how acute HIV infection inhibits the course of HBV infection.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.