Cohort Profile: The International Collaboration of Incident HIV and Hepatitis C in Injecting Cohorts (InC3) Study

Abstract

The International Collaboration of Incident HIV and Hepatitis C in Injecting Cohorts (InC(3)) Study is an international multi-cohort project of pooled biological and behavioural data from nine prospective cohorts of people who inject drugs (PWID). InC(3) brings together researchers from Australia, Canada, USA and the Netherlands with expertise in epidemiology, biostatistics, clinical and behavioural sciences, virology and immunology to investigate research questions relevant to hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV outcomes. InC(3) was established to: (i) create a merged multi-cohort study of pooled data from well-characterized cohorts of PWID with prospective data on HIV and HCV infections, with a particular focus on HCV; (ii) facilitate new studies not possible within individual cohorts; and (iii) bring together researchers across disciplines to answer a broad range of research questions. Study cohorts identify acute HCV cases through follow-up of high-risk HCV antibody-negative PWID or through clinical referral networks. To date, data from 1986 to 2010 have been received from all contributing cohorts, with 821 HCV-infected and 1216 HCV-uninfected participants (overall, n = 2037). Data collected include demographics, host genetics, HCV ribonucleic acid testing, alanine aminotransferase testing, HIV/hepatitis B virus testing, HCV therapy, loss to follow-up and mortality. Potential collaborators should contact the InC(3) PI Dr Kimberley Page (kPage@psg.ucsf.edu) for further information.

IL2Rβ-dependent signals drive terminal exhaustion and suppress memory development during chronic viral infection

“…Study Subjects. HCV acutely infected subjects were recruited among high-risk HCV-seronegative injection drug users participating in the Montreal Hepatitis C Cohort at the Saint-Luc Hospital of the University of Montreal Health Center as previously described (44). Blood samples were processed and analyzed as previously described (45).…”

Hepatitis C Virus Reinfection and Spontaneous Clearance of Reinfection—the InC3Study

“…The InC 3 study has been described previously [14]. All cohorts followed up participants at regular intervals, using standardized methods (Table 1).…”

“…The International Collaboration of Incident HIV and HCV in Injecting Cohorts (InC 3 ) study, which pooled data from 9 prospective cohorts in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and the United States [14], mainly comprising from people who inject drugs, enables assessment of HCV reinfection in well-characterized HCVinfected participants. The aims of our study were to characterize the natural history of spontaneous clearance following primary infection ( primary clearance), HCV reinfection, and spontaneous clearance following reinfection (reclearance) in the InC 3 study; assess differences in peak HCV RNA levels during reinfection, compared with primary infection; assess predictors of HCV reclearance; and assess differences in the time to primary clearance and reclearance.…”

Historical Trends in the Hepatitis C Virus Epidemics in North America and Australia

“…The contributions to this repository came from 9 prospective cohorts constituting the International Collaboration of Incident HIV and Hepatitis C in Injecting Cohorts (InC3) [11]. Phylogenetic analysis of these sequences has shown that North American and Australian sequences clustered separately from each other, suggesting that HCV largely evolves separately in microepidemics in geographically separate communities [10].…”