Review Article Autoimmune and Neoplastic Thyroid Diseases Associated with Hepatitis C Chronic Infection

Copyright © 2014 Poupak Fallahi et al.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Frequently, patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) chronic infection have high levels of serum anti-thyroperoxidase and/or anti-thyroglobulin autoantibodies, ultrasonographic signs of chronic autoimmune thyroiditis, and subclinical hypothyroidism, in female gender versus healthy controls, or hepatitis B virus infected patients. In patients with “HCV-associated mixed cryoglobulinemia” (MC + HCV), a higher prevalence of thyroid autoimmune disorders was shown not only compared to controls, but also versus HCV patients without cryoglobulinemia. Patients withMC+HCV orHCV chronic infection show a higher prevalence of papillary thyroid cancer than controls, in particular in patients with autoimmune thyroiditis. Patients with HCV chronic infection, or with MC +HCV, in presence of autoimmune thyroiditis, show higher serum levels of T-helper (Th)1 (C-X-Cmotif) ligand 10 (CXCL10) chemokine, but normal levels of Th2 (C-C motif) ligand 2 chemokine, than patients without thyroiditis. HCV thyroid infection could act by upregulating CXCL10 gene expression and secretion in thyrocytes recruitingTh1 lymphocytes that secrete interferon