Sustained virological response at week 12 after interferon-free therapy as criterion for HCV cure definition: Validation in a real-life cohort of HIV-coinfected patients

Introduction: Sustained virological response (SVR) 12 weeks after the end-of-therapy (EOT) has been correlated with SVR24 for HCV-monoinfection. We aim to validate SVR12 as criterion for definition of HCV cure in HIV-coinfected patients treated with all-oral direct-acting antivirals (DAA).

Methods: Prospectively observational study including HIV/HCV-coinfected subjects who received DAA and had HCV-RNA measures at weeks 12 and 24 after EOT. Every patient who took ≥1 drug dose was analyzed.

Results: DAA were prescribed to 423 patients, of whom 387 had HCV-RNA measures both at weeks 12 and 24 after EOT. SVR12 was confirmed in 379/387 patients, while SVR24 was confirmed in 377/387 subjects. The positive-predictive-value (PPV) of SVR12 for SVR24 was 99.5% (95%CI: 98.1-99.9). One of the recurrences was clinically suspected to be a late relapse.

Conclusions: SVR12 has a high PPV for HCV cure in HIV/HCV-coinfection, though further follow-up could be necessary for those with deeper immunosuppression.