Journal of Viral Hepatitis, 2011, 18, e350–e357

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2893.2010.01431.x

Hepatitis C virus replication in Caucasian HIV controllers E. Ruiz-Mateos,1 K. Machmach,1 M. C. Romero-Sanchez,1 S. Ferrando-Martinez,1 P. Viciana,1 M. Del Val,2,3 M. A. Mun˜oz-Fernandez,4 M. Genebat1 and M. Leal1 on behalf of the Cohort of the Spanish AIDS Research Network (CoRIS) 1Immunovirology Laboratory and Biochemistry Department, Infectious Diseases Service, Virgen del Rocio University Hospital/Biomedicine Institute of Seville (IBIS), Avd. Manuel Siurot s/n, Seville; 2Centro de Biologı´a Molecular Severo Ochoa (CSIC-UAM), Madrid; 3Centro de Microbiologı´a, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid; and 4Laboratory Inmuno-Biologı´a Molecular, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Maran˜o´n, Madrid, Spain Received September 2010; accepted for publication November 2010

SUMMARY. Whether HIV controllers, patients who sponta-

neously control HIV viraemia, are able to control hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, in terms of spontaneous clearance or lower HCV replication, is not well understood. To assess to what extent Caucasian HIV controllers are able to control HCV replication and potential associated factors, plasma HIV-1 and HCV RNA levels, anti-HCV antibodies, HCV genotype and human leucocyte antigens (HLA) typing were determined in samples from 75 HIV controllers (33 viraemic controllers,