Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
7.1
4.7
Journals
Viruses
Special Issues
Hepatitis C Virus: From Epidemiology to Treatment
share announcement

Hepatitis C Virus: From Epidemiology to Treatment

A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Human Virology and Viral Diseases".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2024 | Viewed by 1655

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Tommaso Stroffolini

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Azienda Policlinico Umberto, Rome, Italy
Interests: epidemiology; natural history; treatment of acute and chronic hepatitis virus infections
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues:

Nearly thirty five years ago (1989), hepatitis C virus (HCV), previously named non-A, non-B hepatitis, was the latest pathogenic hepatotropic virus to be identified.

The development of a highly sensitive and specific assay (third-generation ELISA) allowed the assessment of the impact of the virus on the burden of chronic liver diseases and its severe outcomes; moreover, the assay represented an effective tool for preventing the most typical mode of virus transmission (i.e., blood transfusion).

Over the past few decades, several evolutions in our knowledge have been achieved. Since the second half of the 2010s, the availability of oral direct antiviral agents (DAAs) has represented an impressively efficient therapy for HCV able to cure and eradicate the virus in nearly 100% of infected subjects, regardless of their liver disease stage; however, the poor access to and high price of these drugs in developing countries exacerbate the existing inequalities in the developed world.

The lack of an effective vaccine against the virus represents a barrier against the control of HCV infection.

The articles in this Special Issue, entitled “Hepatitis C Virus: From Epidemiology to Treatment”, will deal with some topics regarding this infection.

Dr. Tommaso Stroffolini
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Viruses is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • hepatitis C virus
  • prevalence
  • modes of transmission
  • natural history
  • acute C hepatitis
  • control of infection
  • DAA therapy

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Review

11 pages, 671 KiB  
Review
Metformin and Hepatocellular Carcinoma Risk Reduction in Diabetic Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C: Fact or Fiction?
by Marco Sacco, Davide Giuseppe Ribaldone and Giorgio Maria Saracco
Viruses 2023, 15(12), 2451; https://doi.org/10.3390/v15122451 - 17 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1312
Abstract
Background: Patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and concomitant type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) show a higher risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Successful antiviral therapy has reduced the incidence of post-therapy HCC, but the presence of DM still represents an unfavourable predictive [...] Read more.
Background: Patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and concomitant type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) show a higher risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Successful antiviral therapy has reduced the incidence of post-therapy HCC, but the presence of DM still represents an unfavourable predictive factor even in cured patients. Metformin (MET) is recommended as a first-line therapy for DM, and its use is associated with a significant reduction in HCC among diabetic patients with chronic liver disease of different etiology, but very few studies specifically address this issue in patients with CHC. Aim: the aim of this review is to evaluate whether the use of MET induces a significant decrease in HCC in diabetic patients with CHC, treated or untreated with antiviral therapy. Methods: A search of PubMed, Medline, Web of Sciences and Embase was conducted for publications evaluating the role of MET in reducing the risk of HCC in patients with DM and CHC, with no language and study type restrictions up to 30 June 2023. Only studies fulfilling the following inclusion criteria were considered: (1) data on the incidence of HCC in the follow-up of diabetic patients with CHC only; (2) follow-up ≥24 months; (3) sufficient data to establish the rate of diabetic patients with CHC treated with metformin or other antidiabetic medications; and (4) data on the type of antiviral treatment and the clinical outcome. Results: Three studies met the inclusion criteria. A prospective cohort study considering only patients with DM and untreated advanced CHC, or non-responders to interferon (IFN) therapy, showed that the use of MET was associated with a significant decrease in HCC incidence, liver-related death and liver transplants. A recent retrospective study focusing on a large-scale nationwide cohort of patients with CHC in Taiwan successfully treated with IFN-based therapy stratified patients into 3 groups: non-MET users, MET users and non-diabetic patients, with 5-year cumulative rates of HCC of 10.9%, 2.6% and 3.0%, respectively, showing a significantly higher HCC risk in non-MET users compared with MET users and with non-diabetic patients, while it was not significantly different between MET users and non-diabetic patients. In a recent Italian cohort study focusing on 7007 patients with CHC treated and cured with direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs), a combined effect of DM and MET therapy was found, showing a higher incidence of HCC in diabetic patients not taking MET compared with those without DM and those with DM taking MET. Conclusion: according to the current evidence, the use of MET should be encouraged in diabetic patients with CHC in order to reduce the risk of HCC; however, a well-designed randomized controlled trial is needed to establish the generalizability of the beneficial effects of MET in this particular subset of patients. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hepatitis C Virus: From Epidemiology to Treatment)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-1
Back to TopTop