Morphologic Features of Extrahepatic Manifestations of Hepatitis C Virus Infection

Cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma are the prototypic complications of chronic hepatitis C virus infection in the liver. However, hepatitis C virus also affects a variety of other organs that may lead to significant morbidity and mortality. Extrahepatic manifestations of hepatitis C infection in...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical & developmental immunology 2012-01, Vol.2012 (2012), p.1-9
Main Authors: Ko, Huaibin M., Hernandez-Prera, Juan C., Zhu, Hongfa, Dikman, Steven H., Sidhu, Harleen K., Ward, Stephen C., Thung, Swan N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Autoimmune Diseases - etiology
Autoimmune Diseases - immunology
Autoimmune Diseases - pathology
Chronic illnesses
Cryoglobulinemia - complications
Cryoglobulinemia - immunology
Cryoglobulinemia - pathology
Glomerulonephritis, Membranoproliferative - etiology
Glomerulonephritis, Membranoproliferative - immunology
Glomerulonephritis, Membranoproliferative - pathology
Hepacivirus - immunology
Hepatitis
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C - complications
Hepatitis C - immunology
Hepatitis C - pathology
Hepatitis C virus
Humans
Immune Complex Diseases - etiology
Immune Complex Diseases - immunology
Immune Complex Diseases - mortality
Immunology
Immunoproliferative Disorders - etiology
Immunoproliferative Disorders - immunology
Immunoproliferative Disorders - pathology
Infections
Mortality
Review
Skin
Thyroid diseases
Vasculitis - etiology
Vasculitis - immunology
Viral infections
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma are the prototypic complications of chronic hepatitis C virus infection in the liver. However, hepatitis C virus also affects a variety of other organs that may lead to significant morbidity and mortality. Extrahepatic manifestations of hepatitis C infection include a multitude of disease processes affecting the small vessels, skin, kidneys, salivary gland, eyes, thyroid, and immunologic system. The majority of these conditions are thought to be immune mediated. The most documented of these entities is mixed cryoglobulinemia. Morphologically, immune complex depositions can be identified in small vessels and glomerular capillary walls, leading to leukoclastic vasculitis in the skin and membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis in the kidney. Other HCV-associated entities include porphyria cutanea tarda, lichen planus, necrolytic acral erythema, membranous glomerulonephritis, diabetic nephropathy, B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas, insulin resistance, sialadenitis, sicca syndrome, and autoimmune thyroiditis. This paper highlights the histomorphologic features of these processes, which are typically characterized by chronic inflammation, immune complex deposition, and immunoproliferative disease in the affected organ.
ISSN:1740-2522
2314-8861
1740-2530
2314-7156
DOI:10.1155/2012/740138