Autoimmunity and Extrahepatic Manifestations in Treatment-Naïve Children with Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection

Indolfi, Giuseppe; Bartolini, Elisa; Olivito, Biagio; Azzari, Chiara; Resti, Massimo

doi:10.1155/2012/785627

Cited by 33 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Persistent viruses, like EBV and hepatitis C virus (HCV), that chronically infect B cells, not only provide an adjuvant effect to the immune system but are also likely to directly alter B cell function in a way that could cause unregulated production of autoAbs leading to mixed cryoglobulinemia and Ads, like systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Sjogren’s syndrome, hepatitis, and thyroiditis [3, 48, 73–75]. Persistent viruses may also cause the activation of endogenous human retroviruses present in B cells, further dysregulating the immune and autoAb response and providing a link between chronic inflammation and the progression to cancer [76, 77].…”

Section: A Direct Role For Infections?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Complexities in the Relationship Between Infection and Autoimmunity

Root‐Bernstein

Fairweather

2013

Curr Allergy Asthma Rep

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The possible role of infections in driving autoimmune disease (AD) has long been debated. Many theories have emerged including release of hidden antigens, epitope spread, anti-idiotypes, molecular mimicry, the adjuvant effect, antigenic complementarity, or simply that AD could be a direct consequence of activation or subversion of the immune response by microbes. A number of issues are not adequately addressed by current theories, including why animal models of AD require adjuvants containing microbial peptides in addition to self tissue to induce disease, and why ADs occur more often in one sex than the other. Reviews published in the past 3 years have focused on the role of the innate immune response in driving AD and the possible role of persistent infections in altering immune responses. Overall, recent evidence suggests that microbes activating specific innate immune responses are critical, while antigenic cross-reactivity may perpetuate immune responses leading to chronic autoinflammatory disease.

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Section: A Direct Role For Infections?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Complexities in the Relationship Between Infection and Autoimmunity

Root‐Bernstein

Fairweather

2013

Curr Allergy Asthma Rep

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“…Approximately 25-30% of patients with chronic HCV are positive for non-organ specific auto-antibodies, i.e. antinuclear antibodies, smooth muscle antibodies, and liver-kidney microsomal antibody type 1 (Indolfi et al, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anti-C1q in chronic hepatitis C Virus genotype IV infection: association with autoimmune rheumatologic manifestations

Fadda

Bassyouni

Hamdy

et al. 2014

Immunological Investigations

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A growing body of evidence suggests that anti-complement-1q (anti-C1q) antibodies are elevated in a variety of autoimmune disease. Therefore, we investigated their prevalence and clinical significance in plasma of patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype IV in the presence and absence of autoimmune extra hepatic manifestations in comparison to normal healthy individuals. Plasma Anti-C1q Abs levels were assessed by an Enzyme Linked Immunosorbant Assay in 91 chronic HCV-infected patients (51 with and 40 without autoimmune rheumatic manifestations) and 40 healthy volunteers matched for age and gender. Epidemiological, clinical, immunochemical and virological data were prospectively collected. Positive Anti-C1q antibodies were more frequent among HCV patients with extra-hepatic autoimmune involvement, than those without and healthy control subjects. No significant correlations were found between Anti-C1q levels with either the liver activity or the fibrosis scores. In HCV-patients with autoimmune involvements, plasma Anti-C1q levels were significantly higher in patients with positive cryoglobulin, and in those with lymphoma than in those without. These results were confirmed by multivariate analysis. Further large scale longitudinal studies are required to assess and clarify the significance and the pathogenic role of anti-C1q antibodies among HCV infected patients with positive cryoglobulinaemia and lymphoma.

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“…Health‐related quality of life in children with HCV has also been found to be significantly lower in children with HCV, with improvements after treatment . Finally, the presence of autoimmune disease has also been associated with HCV in children . Collectively, these studies highlight the need to consider treatment in all eligible children.…”

Section: Hcv Infection In Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%