HFE gene mutations might be an additional factor to be considered among those implicated in the determination of a worse prognosis of the liver disease in chronic HCV infection.
Hemochromatosis gene (HFE) mutations and the hepatitis C virus (HCV) are known risk factors for porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT), but interactions with erythrocytic uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase (UROD) have seldom been addressed.
Hepatitis B virus (4% and 9%; P = 0.04) and hepatitis C virus (6% and 19%; P = 0.002) infections were more frequent in patients with non-HFE-related iron overload.
Highly prevalent factors were alcohol intake in 79%, smoking in 86%, hepatitis C virus infection in 74%, estrogen use in 73% of 11 females, and at least one mutation in the HFE (hereditary hemochromatosis) gene in 65%.
In HCV-infected patients, heterozygosity for the C282Y mutation in HFE was significantly associated with elevated serum ferritin levels, stainable liver iron, and advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis (F2-F4).
In the present study, we correlated different host single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the IL28B, CTLA4, LDLr, and HFE genes and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups with the outcome of HCV infection and the response to pegylated-interferon plus ribavirin (pegIFN-RBV) treatment.
In this study we analyzed the livers of 50 transplant patients with a diagnosis of either hepatitis C cirrhosis or cryptogenic cirrhosis for the prevalence of the more common C282Y mutation of the HFE gene and correlated the findings to hepatic iron concentration.
our results suggest that the C282Y mutation, but not the H63D mutation, of the HFE gene is frequently associated with stainable iron in the liver in HCV-related chronic hepatitis.
Serum markers of iron status and HFE mutations were determined in 179 patients with alcoholic cirrhosis and 98 patients with hepatitis B and/or hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis.
Severe alterations of the HFE gene (42 patients, 28%), hepatitis C virus infection (33 patients, 22%), and dysmetabolic syndrome with iron overload (DSIO) (22 patients, 15%) emerged as the main causes, and other single causes were found in 20 patients (13%).
The aim of this work was to assess the influence of HFE mutations and serum and hepatic measures of iron status on baseline features and response to lead-in therapy in subjects with advanced chronic hepatitis C enrolled in the Hepatitis C Anti-viral Long-term Treatment to prevent Cirrhosis (HALT-C) Trial.
The aim of this work was to investigate whether mutations of HFE, which is a candidate gene for hemochromatosis, play the role of genetic susceptibility factors for PCT in Italian patients, who have a high prevalence of acquired triggering factors, such as hepatitis C virus (HCV) chronic infection and alcohol.
The aims of this study were: 1) to assess the prevalence of HCV infection and HFE mutations in North American patients with PCT; 2) to compare demographic and laboratory features between those who are HCV-positive and HCV-negative; and 3) to study urinary porphyrin excretions in American HCV-positive patients without clinically manifest PCT.
The recent increasing contribution of hepatitis C virus infection to PCT in Japan has also been recognized. but there have been no PCT cases in Japan with HFE gene mutations.
The relationship of H63DHFE gene mutations with chronic hepatitis C and the possible influence of HCV infection on iron metabolism needs further analysis.