Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Nov 8, 2016; 8(31): 1295-1308
Published online Nov 8, 2016. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v8.i31.1295
Alcohol use disorder and its impact on chronic hepatitis C virus and human immunodeficiency virus infections
Daniel Fuster, Arantza Sanvisens, Ferran Bolao, Inmaculada Rivas, Jordi Tor, Robert Muga
Daniel Fuster, Arantza Sanvisens, Jordi Tor, Robert Muga, Department of Internal Medicine, Addiction Unit, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, 08916 Badalona, Spain
Ferran Bolao, Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, IDIBELL, 08907 L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain
Inmaculada Rivas, Municipal Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (Centro Delta), IMSP, 08916 Badalona, Spain
Author contributions: Fuster D performed the literature search and drafted the first version of the manuscript; Sanvisens A and Muga R provided feedback for the first version and suggested additional references; all authors edited and provided feedback around the updated version of the review and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Institute of Health Carlos, ISCIII: European fund for regional development (FEDER), Nos. RETICS RD 12/0028/0006 and RD16/0017/0003; Ministry of Health, Social Services, and Equality, Nos. PNSD 2014/042 and PNSD 2015/027.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Daniel Fuster, MD, PhD, Department of Internal Medicine, Addiction Unit, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Carretera de Canyet, S/N, 08916 Badalona, Spain. dfuster.germanstrias@gencat.cat
Telephone: +34-934-978908 Fax: +34-934-978768
Received: May 4, 2016
Peer-review started: May 6, 2016
First decision: July 4, 2016
Revised: August 4, 2016
Accepted: August 27, 2016
Article in press: August 29, 2016
Published online: November 8, 2016
Abstract

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection frequently co-occur. AUD is associated with greater exposure to HCV infection, increased HCV infection persistence, and more extensive liver damage due to interactions between AUD and HCV on immune responses, cytotoxicity, and oxidative stress. Although AUD and HCV infection are associated with increased morbidity and mortality, HCV antiviral therapy is less commonly prescribed in individuals with both conditions. AUD is also common in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, which negatively impacts proper HIV care and adherence to antiretroviral therapy, and liver disease. In addition, AUD and HCV infection are also frequent within a proportion of patients with HIV infection, which negatively impacts liver disease. This review summarizes the current knowledge regarding pathological interactions of AUD with hepatitis C infection, HIV infection, and HCV/HIV co-infection, as well as relating to AUD treatment interventions in these individuals.

Keywords: Hepatitis C virus, Human immunodeficiency virus, Hepatitis C virus/human immunodeficiency virus co-infection, Liver, Alcohol

Core tip: The present review is focused on alcohol use disorder and hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, as well as HCV/HIV co-infection.