Adinolfi LE, Zampino R, Restivo L, Lonardo A, Guerrera B, Marrone A, Nascimbeni F, Florio A, Loria P. Chronic hepatitis C virus infection and atherosclerosis: Clinical impact and mechanisms. World J Gastroenterol 2014; 20(13): 3410-3417 [PMID: 24707124 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i13.3410]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Luigi E Adinolfi, MD, Professor, Director of Internal Medicine, Department of Medical, Surgical, Neurological, Metabolic, and Geriatric Sciences, Second University of Naples, Marcianise (CE), 80100 Naples, Italy. luigielio.adinolfi@unina2.it
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Topic Highlight
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 7, 2014; 20(13): 3410-3417 Published online Apr 7, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i13.3410
Chronic hepatitis C virus infection and atherosclerosis: Clinical impact and mechanisms
Luigi E Adinolfi, Rosa Zampino, Luciano Restivo, Amedeo Lonardo, Barbara Guerrera, Aldo Marrone, Fabio Nascimbeni, Anna Florio, Paola Loria
Luigi E Adinolfi, Rosa Zampino, Luciano Restivo, Barbara Guerrera, Aldo Marrone, Department of Medical, Surgical, Neurological, Metabolic, and Geriatric Sciences, Second University of Naples, 80100 Naples, Italy
Amedeo Lonardo, Fabio Nascimbeni, Paola Loria, Department of Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, Metabolism and Geriatrics, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41126 Modena, Italy
Anna Florio, Vascular Surgery, Second University of Naples, 80100 Naples, Italy
Author contributions: Adinolfi LE conceived and drafted the article, and approved the final version; Zampino R contributed to drafting the article and approved the final version; Restivo L, Guerrera B, Marrone A, Nascimbeni F and Florio A reviewed the literature and approved the final version of this article; Lonardo A and Loria P critically reviewed the manuscript and approved the final version of this article.
Supported by A grant by Regione Campania, Italy
Correspondence to: Luigi E Adinolfi, MD, Professor, Director of Internal Medicine, Department of Medical, Surgical, Neurological, Metabolic, and Geriatric Sciences, Second University of Naples, Marcianise (CE), 80100 Naples, Italy. luigielio.adinolfi@unina2.it
Telephone: +39-8-23690642 Fax: +39-8-23690642
Received: September 27, 2013 Revised: October 30, 2013 Accepted: January 6, 2014 Published online: April 7, 2014 Processing time: 189 Days and 5.1 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection represents a risk factor for carotid atherosclerosis, heart failure and ischemic stroke. However, findings from studies addressing coronary artery disease and HCV have yielded conflicting results. Moreover, an excess of cardiovascular mortality among anti-HCV positive subjects has been reported. HCV promotes atherogenesis through direct and indirect mechanisms. Inflammation, cytokines activation, cellular and humoral immunity, metabolic derangement, oxidative stress, liver steatosis and fibrosis have been postulated as potential atherogenic mechanisms. Knowledge of such complex mechanisms may be important for understanding disease progression and promoting novel therapeutic approaches. At present, interferon-based treatment of chronic hepatitis C seems to reduce the risk of stroke as well as non-liver-related mortality.
