Objective: To investigate the immunological role of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the development of immune thrombocytopenia as an extrahepatic manifestation (EHM) in patients with chronic HCV infection in correlation with the viral load. Material and Methods: The target population was forty (40) HCV positive patients attending Suez Canal University teaching hospital outpatient clinic. T...

Approximately 170 million people worldwide are chronically infected by hepatitis C virus (HCV), which can result in progressive hepatic injury and fibrosis, culminating in cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease. The benchmark therapy for untreated HCV patients is a combination of pegylated interferon-alpha (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin (RBV). Several studies have suggested several potential new approa...

BACKGROUND Hepatitis C virus (HCV) can be purified from serum of chronically-infected patients in the form of Lipo-Viro-Particles (LVP), which are triglycerid-rich lipoprotein-like particles containing viral RNA and proteins. Since LVP is a constant feature of chronically infected patients, we asked whether purified LVP could interfere with the immune response by acting directly on dendritic ce...

BACKGROUND Chronic hepatitis B is one of the world's major health concerns [corrected]. The etiological agent of this infection is hepatitis B virus (HBV), which can evade the immune system response. Transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) can act against HBV by suppressing the viral replication. The TGF-β1 also plays an important role in preventing liver damage in chronically HBV infected p...

The standard of care for treatment of individuals chronically infected with hepatitis C virus is pegylated interferon in combination with ribavirin. Efficacy is closely related to viral genotype. This review outlines potential therapeutic strategies for treatment failures and discusses some of the newer agents currently in development.

Successful hepatitis C treatment results in sustained virologic response (SVR), which is tantamount to virologic cure and, as such, is expected to benefit nearly all chronically infected persons. When the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first interferon-sparing treatment for HCV infection, many patients who had previously been “warehoused” sought treatment. The infrastructure...

Successful hepatitis C treatment results in sustained virologic response (SVR), which is tantamount to virologic cure and, as such, is expected to benefit nearly all chronically infected persons. When the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first interferon-sparing treatment for HCV infection, many patients who had previously been “warehoused” sought treatment. The infrastructure...