Renal patients are overexposed to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Hepatitis C virus infection may induce renal disease, i.e., cryoglobulinemic membrano-proliferative glomerulopathy and non-cryoglobulinemic nephropathy. Hepatitis C virus impacts general outcomes in chronic kidney disease, dialysis or transplanted patients. Hepatitis C virus infection is now about to be only part of their medi...

There has been a remarkable transformation in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C in recent years with the development of direct acting antiviral agents targeting virus encoded proteins important for viral replication including NS3/4A, NS5A and NS5B. These agents have shown high sustained viral response (SVR) rates of more than 90% in phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials; however, this is sligh...

Enormous progress has been made in the understanding of the hepatitis C virus and the development of novel therapeutic agents since the identification of the virus, from initial interferon monotherapy to PEGylated interferon in combination with ribavirin for 48-72 weeks that used to be the standard of care in hepatitis C virus therapy. However, this combination has limited efficacy and a signif...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of liver-related death worldwide. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause of advanced hepatic fibrosis and cirrhosis, with significantly increased risk for development of HCC. The morbidity and mortality of HCV-related HCC remains high, as rates of HCV cirrhosis continue to increase. The long-term goal of antiviral therapy for chronic...

Since its discovery in 1989, hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been intensively investigated to understand its biology and develop effective antiviral therapies. The efforts of the previous 25 years have resulted in a better understanding of the virus, and this was facilitated by the development of in vitro cell culture systems for HCV replication. Antiviral treatments and sustained virological respo...

Viekira Pak is a new direct-acting antiviral agent that has an excellent efficacy in treating patients with chronic HCV. FDA released a safety warning that Viekira Pak can cause serious liver injury mostly in patients with underlying advanced liver disease. We report the first case of fatal lactic acidosis presenting 3 days after initiating therapy with Viekira Pak. Although it is very hard to ...

The treatment for chronic hepatitis C has been revolutionized with the development of direct-acting antiviral agents. Several regimens have been approved and are currently used in clinical practice, treating a wide range of patient populations infected with hepatitis C. The interferon-free combination of paritaprevir/ritonavir-ombitasvir and dasabuvir (PrOD or the three-drug [3D] regimen) with ...

The current status of antiviral therapy is reviewed, including discussion of older approaches together with more recently developed chemotherapy. Following the introduction dealing with pathophysiological aspects of virus disease, the different approaches to antiviral therapy are presented. The reasons for the slow progress in antiviral therapy are discussed. These include: 1. the necessity of ...

We propose an integrative, mechanistic model that integrates in vitro virology data, pharmacokinetics, and viral response to a combination regimen of a direct-acting antiviral (telaprevir, an HCV NS3-4A protease inhibitor) and peginterferon alfa-2a/ribavirin (PR) in patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C (CHC). This model, which was parameterized with on-treatment data from early phase cl...

Chronic hepatitis C is a major cause of chronic liver disease, including liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The development of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) revolutionized hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment by offering genuine prospects for the first comprehensive cure of a chronic viral infection in humans. While antiviral resistance is a significant limitation for interferon-based...