Interleukin 18 (IL-18) and IL-3 in Extracellular Vesicles: Biomarkers for Durable Elite Control of HIV-1.

Plasma extracellular vesicle (EV)-associated cytokines were quantified in people with HIV (PWH) with different virological control status, including elite controllers (EC) who maintain persistent control (PC) or not (TC). Cytokine signatures and pathways were determined for each group. Median EV-associated cytokine levels were higher among PWH than HIV-uninfected. EC showed the highest levels of EV-associated cytokines among PWH with PC levels higher than TC levels. IL-18 levels best distinguished PWH from uninfected controls, and EC from ART-treated, and IL-3 distinguished PC from TC. The role of EV-cytokines in intercellular communication and endogenous control of HIV expression should be investigated further.

Impact of an Intervention Program on Clostridioides difficile Infections: Comparison of 2 Hospital Cohorts.

Background: Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) occurs in various contexts and care settings and is managed by multiple specialists who are not experts in its management. While there are many initiatives to improve the diagnosis and avoid overdiagnosis, there is less focus on the overall management of the infection. Methods: We studied a cohort of patients with a positive test result for toxigenic C difficile in 2 hospitals. Hospital A has a program that provides advice from an infectious disease specialist (IDS) and promotes continuity of care by providing a phone number to contact the IDS. Hospital B does not have any specific CDI program. The evaluation assessed the proportion of patients not treated (carriers or self-limited disease), adherence to Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines, access to novel therapies, recurrence and mortality rates, and readmission and emergency department visits due to CDI. We assessed the program's effectiveness through a logistic regression model adjusted for covariates chosen by clinical criteria. Results: Hospital A avoided more unnecessary treatments (19.3% vs 11.5%), provided access to novel therapies more frequently (35.3% vs 13%), and adhered more closely to current guidelines (95.8% vs 71.3%). Although the mortality and recurrence rates did not differ, the absence of an intervention program was associated with greater odds of admission due to recurrence (odds ratio, 4.19; P = .037) and more visits to the emergency department due to CDI (odds ratio, 8.74; P = .001). Conclusions: Implementation of a CDI intervention program based on recommendations from IDSs and improved access to specialized care during the follow-up is associated with enhanced quality of CDI management and potential reductions in hospital resource utilization.

Off-label use of maraviroc in HIV-1-infected paediatric patients in clinical practice.

Maraviroc (MVC) is not approved for HIV-1-infected paediatric patients. This is the first assessment of the use of MVC-based salvage therapy in vertically HIV-1-infected paediatric patients in clinical settings. The results suggest that MVC-based salvage therapy is useful in children and adolescents with extensive resistance profile leading to maintained virological suppression in up to 88% of the patients with CCR5-tropic virus. The likelihood of treatment success might increase when MVC is combined with other active drugs.

Incidence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in a multicenter cohort of HIV-positive patients in Spain 2004-2011: increasing rates of HCV diagnosis but not of HCV seroconversions.

OBJECTIVES: We aim to describe rates and risk factors of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) diagnoses, follow-up HCV testing and HCV seroconversion from 2004-2011 in a cohort of HIV-positive persons in Spain. METHODS: CoRIS is a multicentre, open and prospective cohort recruiting adult HIV-positive patients naïve to antiretroviral therapy. We analysed patients with at least one negative and one follow-up HCV serology. Incidence Rates (IR) were calculated and multivariate Poisson regression was used to estimate adjusted Rates Ratios (aIRR). RESULTS: Of 2112 subjects, 53 HCV diagnoses were observed, IR = 0.93/100 py (95%CI: 0.7-1.2). IR increased from 0.88 in 2004-05 to 1.36 in 2010-11 (aIRR = 1.55; 95%CI: 0.37-6.55). In men who have sex with men (MSM) from 0.76 to 1.10 (aIRR = 1.45; 95%CI: 0.31-6.82); in heterosexual (HTX) subjects from 1.19 to 1.28 (aIRR = 1.08; 95%CI: 0.11-10.24). HCV seroconversion rates decreased from 1.77 to 0.65 (aIRR = 0.37; 95%CI: 0.12-1.11); in MSM from 1.06 to 0.49 (aIRR = 0.46; 95%CI: 0.09-2.31); in HTX from 2.55 to 0.59 (aIRR = 0.23; 95%CI: 0.06-0.98). HCV infection risk was higher for injecting drug users (IDU) compared to HTX (aIRR = 9.63;95%CI: 2.9-32.2); among MSM, for subjects aged 40-50 compared to 30 or less (IRR = 3.21; 95%CI: 1.7-6.2); and among HTX, for female sex (aIRR = 2.35; 95%CI: 1.03-5.34) and <200 CD4-count (aIRR = 2.39; 95%CI: 0.83-6.89). CONCLUSION: We report increases in HCV diagnoses rates which seem secondary to intensification of HCV follow-up testing but not to rises in HCV infection rates. HCV IR is higher in IDU. In MSM, HCV IR increases with age. Among HTX, HCV IR is higher in women and in subjects with impaired immunological situation.