“Double Punch”: Hepatitis C in Patients with Genetic Defects of Iron Metabolism

Abstract

The review is focused on the development of chronic viral hepatitis C in patients with a genetic defect in the hereditary hemochromatosis (HFE) gene that controls iron metabolism. The effect of HFE gene mutations on the patient’s susceptibility to viral attack, the development of pathological processes in the liver, including the most severe complications, such as liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in chronic viral hepatitis C, and responsiveness of patients carrying the mutations to the treatment of viral hepatitis C are discussed.