Hepatitis virus C infection, adipokines and hepatic steato-fibrosis.

Hepatitis C viral infection is accompanied by various serum alterations that could explain its molecular impact on hepatic structure and metabolic homeostasis. Recently it has been shown that adipocytokines play a pivotal role in development of hepatic steato-fibrosis, different studies giving a support of the hypothesis that the balance of adipocytokine expression is a key regulator for the progression of hepatic steatosis and fibrosis. The association between insulin resistance and hepatitis C virus genotypes and liver fibrosis stage foreshadowed that virus-induced insulin resistance may be a mechanism for fibrogenesis in chronic hepatitis C virus infection. The main importance of adipocytokine profile detection consists in the prediction of steatosis induction that has clinical relevance, being associated with advanced fibrosis and hyporesponsiveness to antiviral therapy.