Metabolic disorders are common in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Epidemiologic and clinical data indicate an overprevalence of lipids abnormalite, steatosis, insuline resistance (IR) and diabetes mellitus in HCV patients, suggesting that HCV itself may interact with glucido-lipidic metabolism. HCV interacts with the host lipid metabolism by several mechanisms leading to hepatic steatosis and hypolipidemia which are reversible after viral eradication. Liver and peripheral IR are HCV genotype/viral load dependent and improved after viral eradication. This article examines examine the relationship between HCV, lipid abnormalities, steatosis, IR, and diabetes and the pathogenic mechanisms accounting for these events in HCV-infected patients.
Keywords: Hepatitis C; Hypobetalipoproteinemia; Insulin resistance; Microsomal triglyceride transfer protein; Steatosis; Tumor necrosis factor.
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