Letters To The Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Jun 27, 2018; 10(6): 448-451
Published online Jun 27, 2018. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v10.i6.448
Responsibility of hepatitis C virus in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma: From molecular alterations to possible solutions
Gaetano Bertino, Giulia Malaguarnera, Evelise Frazzetto, Alice Sciuto, Gaetano Inserra, Guido Nicola Zanghì, Michele Malaguarnera
Gaetano Bertino, Evelise Frazzetto, Alice Sciuto, Hepatology Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Policlinico “G. Rodolico”, Catania 95123, Italy
Giulia Malaguarnera, Michele Malaguarnera, Research Center “the Great Senescence”, University of Catania, Catania 95100, Italy
Giulia Malaguarnera, Michele Malaguarnera, Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Science, University of Catania, Catania 95100, Italy
Gaetano Inserra, Internal Medicine Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Catania 95123, Italy
Guido Nicola Zanghì, Department of Surgery, Policlinico Vittorio Emanuele University Hospital, University of Catania, Catania 95100, Italy
Author contributions: All authors made equal contribution in the preparation of this manuscript and final approval of the version of it to be published.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare here that there is no conflict of interest related to this study among them.
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: Gaetano Bertino, MD, Associate Professor, Hepatology Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Policlinico “G. Rodolico”, Via S. Sofia n.78, Catania 95123, Italy. gaetanobertinounict@g.mail.com
Telephone: +39-9-53781573 Fax: +39-9-53781572
Received: March 8, 2018
Peer-review started: March 8, 2018
First decision: March 19, 2018
Revised: March 30, 2018
Accepted: May 11, 2018
Article in press: May 11, 2018
Published online: June 27, 2018
Core Tip

Core tip: The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is able to contribute, both directly and indirectly, to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The early treatment of the infection and the clearance of HCV represents today, in the age of the direct antiviral agents, an extraordinary opportunity for true prevention of the development of HCV-related HCC.