MOLECULAR-GENETIC PECULIARITIES OF HEPATITIS С VIRUS IN PATIENTS WITH HIV-INFECTION RESIDING IN THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST

The Aim: to evaluate abundance and molecular-genetic characteristics of hepatitis С virus (HCV) among HIV-positive patients residing in the constituent entities of the Far Eastern Federal district.

Materials and methods. Detection of HCV serological markers (HCVsum) was performed via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay among HIV-positive individuals (n=350) and apparently healthy people (first control group; n=368). In order to conduct comparative evaluation of age-sex composition and HBV-infection markers abundance a second control group of patients with diagnosis of chronic viral hepatitis (n=88) was selected. RNA-positive samples were subjected to molecular-genetic analysis: NS5B HCV genome part (241 bp and 350 bp) was examined.

Results and discussion. The odds ratio of being infected with HCV was over 47 times higher in HIV-population in comparison to apparently health people. HIV-HCV positive patient occurred to be younger rather than patient with diagnosis of chronic viral hepatitis C. It was revealed that in the HIV-HCV co-infected group male patients were prevalent compared to controls. The most prevalent HCV subgenotype was 3a. High prevalence of 3a HCV subgenotype among HIV-infected individuals was probably related to high abundance of intravenous drug use in the studied group. Analysis of the phylogenetic tree showed considerable clusterization of isolated part of gene sequences. This fact can be due to plural infection sources that presumably have no epidemiological connection. 

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