Hepatitis C virus syndrome: A constellation of organ- and non-organ specific autoimmune disorders, B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and cancer

Figure 3 Schematic representation of the constellation of hepatitis C virus -associated disorders, varying from the great number of individuals with asymptomatic hepatitis C virus infection to patients with one or more harmful manifestations. Epidemiological studies demonstrated a great geographical heterogeneity among different HCV-associated disorders, as well as with important discrepancies with regards to their prevalence reported in clinical studies from the same country; this latter discrepancy may be dependent on specific specializations and/or variable methodological approaches (sample sizes, choice of patients and/or control subjects) of investigators from different referring centers. HCV: Hepatitis C virus; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma.