Extrahepatic immune related manifestations in chronic hepatitis C virus infection

Table 1 Differences in clinical and laboraratory findings between hepatitis C virus-related and non hepatitis C virus-related immune syndromes[10,46,47,52]

Immune syndrome	Features	HCV-related (% of patients)	Non HCV- related (% of patients)
Thrombocytopenia	Median age	54.9 ± 8 yr	40.3 ± 8 yr
	Platelets levels < 10 × 109/L	4	46
	Symptomatic thrombocytopenia	64	90
	Cryoglobulinemia	90	7
	Anti-cardiolipin antibodies	62	15
Polyarthritis	Clinical features	Milder non-erosive form of arthritis	Erosive arthritis
	Anti-CCP antibodies	4-11	75-83
	RF positivity	79-90	65-81
	Cryoglobulinemia	23	15
	Parotidomegaly	17	47
Sjogren syndrome	Liver involvement	94	3
	Cryoglobulinemia	60	10
	Anti-Ro/SS-A antibodies	17	38

HCV: Hepatitis C virus; Anti-CCP: Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies.

Table 2 Non organ specific autoreactivity in chronic hepatitis C virus infection[64-68]

Autoantibodies	Prevalence (%)	Clinical significance
Cryoglobulins	40-60	Associated with cryoglobulinemic vasculitis:
		Palpable purpura
		Kidney disease
		Peripheral neuropathy
		Arthritis
ANA	1.6-32	Controversial clinical significance
SMA	6-19.3	Often associated with:
		Patients’ age
LKM-1	0.5-2.5	Fibrosis stage
AMA	0.5-1.4	Disease activity
		No influence on treatment response

ANA: Antinuclear antibodies; SMA: Anti-smooth muscle antibodies; LKM-1: Anti-Liver Kidney Microsomal Antibodies; ΑΜΑ: Antimitochondrial antibodies.