%0 Journal Article %A Hua, Stéphane %A Vigano, Selena %A Tse, Samantha %A Zhengyu, Ouyang %A Harrington, Sean %A Negron, Jordi %A Garcia-Broncano, Pilar %A Marchetti, Giulia %A Genebat, Miguel %A Leal, Manuel %A Resino, Salvador %A Ruiz-Mateos, Ezequiel %A Lichterfeld, Mathias %A Yu, Xu G %T Pegylated Interferon-α-Induced Natural Killer Cell Activation Is Associated With Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 DNA Decline in Antiretroviral Therapy-Treated HIV-1/Hepatitis C Virus-Coinfected Patients. %D 2018 %U http://hdl.handle.net/10668/11943 %X Interferon alpha (IFN-α) can potently reduce human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) replication in tissue culture and animal models, but may also modulate residual viral reservoirs that persist despite suppressive antiretroviral combination therapy. However, mechanisms leading to viral reservoir reduction during IFN-α treatment are unclear. We analyzed HIV-1 gag DNA levels in CD4 T cells by digital droplet polymerase chain reaction and CD8 T-cell and natural killer (NK) cell phenotypes by flow cytometry in a cohort of antiretroviral therapy-treated HIV-1/hepatitis C virus-coinfected patients (n = 67) undergoing treatment for hepatitis C infection with pegylated IFN-α and ribavirin for an average of 11 months. We observed that IFN-α treatment induced a significant decrease in CD4 T-cell counts (P These data suggest that the reduction of viral reservoir cells during treatment with IFN-α is primarily attributable to antiviral activities of NK cells. %~