A study was performed in 10 European health care centers in which 914 patients coinfected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who had elevated serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels underwent liver biopsy during the period of 1992 through 2002. Overall, the METAVIR liver fibrosis stage was F0 in 10% of patients, F1 in 33%, F2 in 22%, F3 in 22%, and F4 in 13%. Predictors of severe liver fibrosis (METAVIR stage, F3 or F4) in multivariate analysis were age of >35 years (odds ratio [OR], 2.95; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.08-4.18), alcohol consumption of >50 g/day (OR, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.1-2.35), and CD4+ T cell count of <500 cells/mm3 (OR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.03-1.98). Forty-six percent of patients aged >40 years had severe liver fibrosis, compared with 15% of subjects aged <30 years. The use of antiretroviral therapy was not associated with the severity of liver fibrosis. In summary, severe liver fibrosis is frequently found in HCV-HIV-coinfected patients with elevated serum ALT levels, and its severity increases significantly with age. The rate of complications due to end-stage liver disease will inevitably increase in this population, for whom anti-HCV therapy should be considered a priority.

A ntiretroviral therapy (ART) has significantly decreased the HIV-associated morbidity and mortality in industrialized countries. 1 ART usually consists of a combination of two nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) with either protease inhibitors (PIs) or a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), or of three NRTIs. 2 With prolonged exposure to antiretroviral drugs, clinicians became aware of long-term side effects of individual ART components. Many adverse effects of the NRTI class of anti-HIV drugs are now related to the fact that NRTIs undergo intracellular triphosphorylation, then inhibit the replication of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) by interacting with gamma-polymerase. 3 In vitro studies point toward differences between the potencies of the individual NRTIs in depleting mtDNA, with the socalled "D drugs" zalcitabine (ddC), didanosine (ddI), and stavudine (d4T) being relatively strong inhibitors of polymerase-gamma compared with the other currently licensed nucleoside analogues (so-called "non-D drugs"). 4,5 Studies performed in vitro and in animals suggest that depletion of mtDNA may represent an underlying mechanism of NRTI-related hepatic side effects in HIV patients. [5][6][7] Cell models and animal data, however, have limitations in predicting clinical toxicities, partly because Abbreviations: ART, antiretroviral therapy; NRTI, nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitor; PI, protease inhibitor; NNRTI, nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor; mtDNA, mitochondrial DNA; ddC, zalcitabine; ddI, didanosine; d4T, stavudine; HCV, hepatitis C virus; nDNA, nuclear DNA; ULN, upper limit of normal; ALT, alanine aminotranferase. From

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Background In some patients the immune response triggered by SARS-CoV-2 is unbalanced, presenting an acute respiratory distress syndrome which in many cases requires intensive care unit (ICU) admission. The limitation of ICU beds has been one of the major burdens in the management around the world, therefore, clinical strategies to avoid ICU admission are needed. Objective We aimed to describe the influence of tocilizumab on the need of transfer to ICU or death in non-critically ill patients. Methods A retrospective study of 171 patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection that did not qualify as requiring transfer to ICU during the first 24h after admission to a conventional ward, were included. The criteria to receive tocilizumab was radiological impairment, oxygen demand or an increasing of inflammatory parameters, however, the ultimate decision was left to the attending physician judgement. The primary outcome was the need of ICU admission or death whichever came first. Results 77 patients received tocilizumab and 94 did not. The tocilizumab group had less ICU admissions (10.3% vs. 27.6%, P= 0.005) and need of invasive ventilation (0 vs 13.8%, P=0.001). In the multivariable analysis, tocilizumab remained as a protective variable (OR: 0.03, CI 95%: 0.007-0∙1, P=0.0001) of ICU admission or death. Conclusions Tocilizumab in the early stages of the inflammatory flare, could avoid an important number of ICU admissions and mechanical ventilation use. The mortality rate of 10.3% among patients receiving tocilizumab appears to be lower than other reports.