In our present study, the percentage of HCV RNA negative patients among anti-HCV seropositive patients was a little higher in HIV-1 seronegative (33.51%) than HIV-1 seropositive (30.99%) subpopulations (Fig. as well as the altered CD4+/CD8+ T cell counts, HCV core antigen and HCV viral load were also measured. The concentration of serum HCV core antigen was highly correlated with level of HCV RNA in CHC patients with Pyrogallol or without HIV-1 coinfection. Of note, HCV core antigen concentration was negatively correlated with CD4+ T cell count, while no correlation was found between HCV RNA level and CD4+ T cell count. Our findings suggested that quantitative detection of plasma HCV core antigen may be an alternative indicator of HCV RNA qPCR assay when evaluating the association between HCV replication Pyrogallol and host immune status in HCV/HIV-1 coinfected patients. Introduction Infection of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) was common in several provinces of China owing to unsanitary commercial blood collection methods until the end of the 1990’s [1]C[3] while HCV is definitely more frequently transmitted through unsanitary blood or blood products, compared to HIV-1illness [4]C[7]. Unlike HIV-1, it was reported that approximately 14% to 40% of people infected with HCV spontaneously cleared the disease and experienced no detectable Pyrogallol serum HCV RNA [8]C[14]. Anti-HCV seropositive individuals with detectable HCV RNA were considered to have active HCV illness and were classified as chronic hepatitis C illness (CHC), while HCV seropositive individuals with HCV RNA bad (i.e., viremia-negative) were considered to have a prior HCV illness and were classified mainly because spontaneous HCV viral clearance (SVC) [15]. With the development of techniques for direct detection of the HCV disease (RNA or core protein), it is expected that HCV infectious status can be evaluated better if the results of HCV antibodies and disease detection were considered collectively. Of note, compared with the widespread software of HCV RNA detection by using the RT-qPCR technique, the HCV core antigen assay may be a useful aid in the analysis of suspected hepatitis C viral infections and to monitor the status of infectious individuals. However, the application and significance of HCV core antigen assay and its correlation with HCV RNA detection are still not well investigated, especially on the background of HIV-1 coinfection. With this cross-sectional study, we analyzed and compared the serological and virological characteristics of HCV viremia-positive and viremia-negative individuals in a total of 354 HCV and/or HIV-1 seropositive subjects. Clinical correlations and the effect of HIV-associated factors on abnormalities of liver function in HCV/HIV-1 coinfected individuals were also evaluated. The results shown that serum HCV core antigen testing offers comparable level of sensitivity and highly stability Pyrogallol to HCV RNA qPCR in CHC individuals with or without HIV-1 coinfection and quantitative detection of plasma HCV core antigen may be a practical alternative to the HCV RNA qPCR assay in medical evaluation of HCV illness. However, HCV core antigen level was negatively correlated with CD4+ T cell counts and anti-HCV antibody response (S/CO percentage) was positively correlated with CD4+ T cell counts in HIV seropositive CHC individuals with CD4+ T cell counts less than 1000/l, while no correlation was found between HCV RNA level and CD4+ T cell count. Our findings suggested that HCV core Pyrogallol antigen probably may be more sensitive to immune pressure than HCV RNA under the immunodeficiency condition Rabbit Polyclonal to USP42 induced by HIV-1 coinfection. Materials and Methods Establishment of a study cohort A total of 1252 occupants (account for 80% of the local human population) from a town of Shangcai region, Henan province in central China were investigated for serum HBsAg, anti-HCV antibodies and anti-HIV antibodies living by local CDC (Shangcai Center for.