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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Jan 27, 2015; 7(1): 44-52
Published online Jan 27, 2015. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v7.i1.44
Adiponectin serum level in chronic hepatitis C infection and therapeutic profile
Valentina Peta, Carlo Torti, Natasa Milic, Alfredo Focà, Ludovico Abenavoli
Valentina Peta, Alfredo Focà, Ludovico Abenavoli, Department of Health Sciences, University Magna Græcia, Campus Germaneto, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy
Carlo Torti, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University Magna Graecia, Campus Germaneto, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy
Natasa Milic, Department of Pharmacy, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Author contributions: Peta V designed the paper, performed research of literature data and wrote the paper; Milic N performed research of literature data; Torti C and Focà A critically revised the paper; Abenavoli L critically revised the paper and drafted the article.
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: Ludovico Abenavoli, MD, PhD, Department of Health Sciences, University Magna Græcia, Campus Germaneto, Viale Europa, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy. l.abenavoli@unicz.it
Telephone: +39-0961-3694387 Fax: +39-0961-754220
Received: June 5, 2014
Peer-review started: June 8, 2014
First decision: July 10, 2014
Revised: July 20, 2014
Accepted: November 17, 2014
Article in press: November 19, 2014
Published online: January 27, 2015
Abstract

Hepatic steatosis is commonly seen in the patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. HCV is closely associated with lipid metabolism, and viral steatosis is more common in genotype 3 infection owing to a direct cytopathic effect of HCV core protein. In non-genotype 3 infection, hepatic steatosis is considered largely to be the result of the alterations in host metabolism; metabolic steatosis is primarily linked with HCV genotype 1. Adipose tissue secretes different hormones involved in glucose and lipid metabolisms. It has been demonstrated that adipocytokines are involved in the pathogenesis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, as the decreased plasma adiponectin levels, a soluble matrix protein expressed by adipoctyes and hepatocyte, are associated with liver steatosis. Various studies have shown that steatosis is strongly correlated negatively with adiponectin in the patients with HCV infection. The role of adiponectin in hepatitis C virus induced steatosis is still not completely understood, but the relationship between adiponectin low levels and liver steatosis is probably due to the ability of adiponectin to protect hepatocytes from triglyceride accumulation by increasing β-oxidation of free fatty acid and thus decreasing de novo free fatty acid production.

Keywords: Hepatitis C virus, Adiponectin, Metabolism, Insulin resistance, Hepatitis C virus core protein

Core tip: Three main types of steatosis in the patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are known: a metabolic type associated with metabolic syndrome, viral steatosis directly triggered by the virus and a “middle ground” between metabolic and viral mechanisms. Liver steatosis is a common histological feature of chronic hepatitis C infection, and the recent studies have shown that it is strongly correlated negatively with adiponectin levels. This finding suggests that adiponectin may have a role in modulating the progression of hepatic steatosis in HCV infected patients.