Central nervous system as a possible site of HCV replication.

There is mounting evidence of HCV neuroinvasion on the clinical and molecular level. It seems that microglia cells, representing a resident CNS macrophages population, are the main target for the virus. It can be also speculated that the macrophages carry HCV to CNS compartment. Nonspecific inflammation and changes in the metabolic pathway of infected cells can play a role in pathogenesis of neurological symptoms which are observed in HCV infected patients.