Treatment
The primary objective of HCV therapy is permanent eradication of the virus. The secondary potential benefit of eradication is a reduction in the risk of liver failure and liver cancer. Currently, peginterferon alfa-2a plus ribavirin is the only FDA approved treatment for HIV–HCV co-infected patients. Interferons bind to specific cell surface receptors of virus-infected cells, which induces a complex cascade of protein-protein interactions and a rapid activation of gene transcription. The antiviral effects of interferons are mediated through inhibition of viral penetration or uncoating, inhibiting viral replication or translation of viral proteins, and/or viral assembly and release. The difference between peginterferon and interferon is the addition of a polyethylene glycol (PEG) polymer. The addition of PEG decreases plasma clearance considerably, protects the molecule from proteolytic degradation and reduces its immunogenicity. Peak concentrations are approximately 1.5-2 fold higher than trough concentrations and the half-life is 80 hours (compared to 5.1 hours for interferon alpha-2a). Ribavirin is a synthetic nucleoside analogue, but its mechanism of action is not clearly established. Ribavirin inhibits the replication of a wide range of RNA and DNA viruses. Pharmacokinetics are similar in patients with HIV co-infection compared with HCV mono-infection.
Read more about this topic: Hepatitis C And HIV Co-infection
Famous quotes containing the word treatment:
“I am glad you agree with me as to the treatment of the mining riots. We shall crush out the lawbreakers if the courts and juries do not fail.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“The treatment of African and African American culture in our education was no different from their treatment in Tarzan movies.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“If the study of all these sciences, which we have enumerated, should ever bring us to their mutual association and relationship, and teach us the nature of the ties which bind them together, I believe that the diligent treatment of them will forward the objects which we have in view, and that the labor, which otherwise would be fruitless, will be well bestowed.”
—Plato (c. 427–347 B.C.)