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Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection and the resultant Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic are major global health challenges; hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection has made the HIV/AIDS epidemic even worse. Interleukin-27 (IL-27), a cytokine which inhibits HIV and HCV replication in vitro, associates with HIV infection and HIV/HCV co-infection in clinical settings. However, the impact of HIV and HCV viral loads on plasma IL-27 expression levels has not been well characterized. In this study, 155 antiretroviral therapy-naïve Chinese were recruited. Among them 80 were HIV- and HCV-negative healthy controls, 45 were HIV-mono-infected and 30 were HIV/HCV-co-infected. Plasma level HIV, HCV, IL-27 and CD4+ number were counted and their correlation, regression relationships were explored. We show that: plasma IL-27 level was significantly upregulated in HIV-mono-infected and HIV/HCV-co-infected Chinese; HIV viral load was negatively correlated with IL-27 titer in HIV-mono-infected subjects whereas the relationship was opposite in HIV/HCV-co-infected subjects; and the relationships between HIV viral loads, IL-27 titers and CD4+ T cell counts in the HIV mono-infection and HIV/HCV co-infection groups were dramatically different. Overall, our results suggest that IL-27 differs in treatment-naïve groups with HIV mono-infections and HIV/HCV co-infections, thereby providing critical information to be considered when caring and treating those with HIV mono-infection and HIV/HCV co-infection.

Much information is available for the 2009 H1N1 influenza immunity response, but little is known about the antibody change in seasonal influenza before and during the novel influenza A pandemic. In this study, we conducted a cross-sectional serological survey of 4 types of major seasonal influenza in March and September 2009 on a full range of age groups, to investigate seasonal influenza immunity response before and during the outbreak of the sH1N1 influenza in Shenzhen - the largest migration city in China. We found that the 0-5 age group had an increased antibody level for all types of seasonal influenza during the pandemic compared to the pre-outbreak level, in contrast with almost all other age groups, in which the antibody level decreased. Also, distinct from the antibodies of A/H3N2, B/Yamagata and B/Victoria that decreased significantly during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, the antibody of A/H1N1 showed no statistical difference from the pre-outbreak level. The results suggest that the antibodies against the 2009 sH1N1 cross-reacted with seasonal H1N1. Moreover, the 0-5 age group was under attack by both seasonal and 2009 H1N1 influenza during the pandemic, hence vaccination merely against a new strain of flu might not be enough to protect the youngest group.

BACKGROUND: Co-infection with HIV and HCV is very common. It is estimated that over 5 million people are co-infected with HIV and HCV worldwide. Accumulated evidence shows that each virus alters the course of infection of the other one. CD8+ T cells play a crucial role in the eradication of viruses and infected target cells. To the best of our knowledge, no one has investigated the gene expression profiles in HIV/HCV-co-infected individuals. METHODOLOGY: Genome-wide transcriptomes of CD8+ T cells from HIV/HCV-co-infected or mono-infected treatment-naïve individuals were analyzed by microarray assays. Pairwise comparisons were performed and differentially expressed genes were identified followed by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) validation. Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAG) from Web-based Gene SeT AnaLysis Toolkit (WebGestalt) and DAVID bioinformatics resources 6.7 (the Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery) were used to discover the Gene Ontology (GO) categories with significantly enriched gene numbers. The enriched Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways were also obtained by using WebGestalt software. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: A total of 110, 24 and 72 transcript IDs were shown to be differentially expressed (> 2-fold and p

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) mono-infection and HCV/HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) co-infection are growing problems in injection drug users (IDU). Their prevalence and genotypic patterns vary with geographic locations. Access to harm reduction measures is opening up opportunities for improving the HIV/HCV profiling of IDU in China, where IDUs account for a significant proportion of the two infections especially in the southern part of the country. Methodology/Principal Findings: A cross sectional study was conducted. Through the Liuzhou Methadone Clinic, a total of 117 injection drug users (IDUs) were recruited from Guangxi, Southern China. A majority of the IDUs (96%) were HCV antibody positive, of which 21% were HIV infected. Unlike HCV monoinfection, there was spatial heterogeneity in the distribution of HIV/HCV coinfection, the latter also characterized by a higher prevalence of needle-sharing. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that genotype 6a was predominant in the study population. There were shorter genetic distances among the 6a sequences compared to the other HCV subtypes-1a, 3a, and 3b. Conclusion/Significance: The results suggested that HIV and HCV were introduced at around the same time to the IDU populations in Southern China, followed by their differential spread as determined by the biologic characteristics of the virus and the intensity of behavioural risk. This pattern is different from that in other South East Asian countries where HCV infections have probably predated HIV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]