Introduction to hepatitis C virus infection: Overview and history of hepatitis C virus therapies

Abstract

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is an infection that affects over 71 million people worldwide that primarily leads to significant morbidity and mortality through its predisposition to liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. In addition, extrahepatic manifestations, such as mixed cryoglobulinaemia-associated vasculitis including renal disease, or type II diabetes are frequently encountered in chronically infected individuals. HCV treatment aims to permanently eradicate the virus in order to prevent both liver and extra-hepatic manifestations. Over two decades after the HCV discovery, treatments have evolved from nonspecific immune modulating therapies based on interferon to specific drug combinations, targeting viral proteins. In the present review, we give an overview of HCV infection with a special emphasis on the history of the treatment of viral hepatitis C and the substantial improvement in efficacy and tolerability profile with the recent development of new direct-acting antiviral therapies.