CROI 2016: Viral Hepatitis and Liver Fibrosis

At the 2016 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Boston, Massachusetts, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remained a major theme in the context of HIV-associated liver disease, although other causes of liver disease garnered increased attention, including fatty liver disease, hepatitis B, and the impact of HIV disease itself on the liver. Although no data from phase III studies of HCV direct-acting antiviral (DAA) drugs for the treatment of HIV/HCV coinfection were presented at CROI 2016, a broad range of HCV DAA-related topics were presented, including accumulating experience with real-world performance of DAA-based regimens outside of clinical trials, drug interactions between DAA and antiretroviral drugs, treatment of acute HCV infection, and retreatment of individuals whose DAA-based regimens failed and those in whom resistance to DAA drugs emerged. A summary of select abstracts from CROI 2016 is presented, including discussion of clinical relevance where appropriate and areas for future research.