Topic Highlight
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 14, 2015; 21(42): 11931-11940
Published online Nov 14, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i42.11931
Role of occult hepatitis B virus infection in chronic hepatitis C
Nicola Coppola, Lorenzo Onorato, Mariantonietta Pisaturo, Margherita Macera, Caterina Sagnelli, Salvatore Martini, Evangelista Sagnelli
Nicola Coppola, Lorenzo Onorato, Mariantonietta Pisaturo, Margherita Macera, Salvatore Martini, Evangelista Sagnelli, Department of Mental Health and Public Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, Second University of Naples, 80131 Naples, Italy
Mariantonietta Pisaturo, Division of Infectious Diseases, AORN Sant’Anna e San Sebastiano di Caserta, 81100 Caserta, Italy
Caterina Sagnelli, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine and Surgery “F. Magrassi e A. Lanzara”, Second University of Naples, 80131 Naples, Italy
Author contributions: Coppola N, Onorato L, Pisaturo M, Macera M, Sagnelli C, Martini S and Sagnelli E made substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and final approval of the version to be published.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors of the manuscript declare that they have no conflict of interest in connection with this paper.
Open-Access: 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/
Correspondence to: Dr. Nicola Coppola, Department of Mental Health and Public Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, Second University of Naples, Via L. Armanni 5, 80131 Naples, Italy. nicola.coppola@unina2.it
Telephone: +81-5666719 Fax: +81-5666013
Received: April 15, 2015
Peer-review started: April 18, 2015
First decision: June 2, 2015
Revised: June 28, 2015
Accepted: September 14, 2015
Article in press: September 14, 2015
Published online: November 14, 2015
Processing time: 209 Days and 17.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) is a virological condition characterized by a low level of hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication with HBV DNA detectable in liver tissue in the absence of detectable surface antigen of HBV in serum. Some studies indicate that OBI may favor the increase of liver fibrosis and the development of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic hepatitis C, whereas other investigations refute this. Here, we review all the available data on this topic and discuss the possible influence of OBI on the natural course of chronic hepatitis C.