Topic Highlight
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Jan 18, 2016; 8(2): 92-106
Published online Jan 18, 2016. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v8.i2.92
Chronic hepatitis C: This and the new era of treatment
Gaetano Bertino, Annalisa Ardiri, Maria Proiti, Giuseppe Rigano, Evelise Frazzetto, Shirin Demma, Maria Irene Ruggeri, Laura Scuderi, Giulia Malaguarnera, Nicoletta Bertino, Venerando Rapisarda, Isidoro Di Carlo, Adriana Toro, Federico Salomone, Mariano Malaguarnera, Emanuele Bertino, Michele Malaguarnera
Gaetano Bertino, Annalisa Ardiri, Maria Proiti, Giuseppe Rigano, Evelise Frazzetto, Shirin Demma, Laura Scuderi, Hepatology Unit - Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Maria Irene Ruggeri, Internal Medicine Unit, ARNAS Civic Hospital, 90142 Palermo, Italy
Giulia Malaguarnera, Mariano Malaguarnera, Michele Malaguarnera, Research Centre “La Grande Senesce”, University of Catania, 95100 Catania, Italy
Giulia Malaguarnera, Michele Malaguarnera, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Catania, 95100 Catania, Italy
Nicoletta Bertino, Emanuele Bertino, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Venerando Rapisarda, Occupational Medicine Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, 95100 Catania, Italy
Isidoro Di Carlo, Adriana Toro, Department of Surgical Sciences, Organ Transplantation and Advanced Technologies, University of Catania, 95100 Catania, Italy
Federico Salomone, Gastroenterology Unit, Acireale Hospital, 95024 Acireale, Catania, Italy
Author contributions: All authors contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Gaetano Bertino, Professor, Hepatology Unit - Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Policlinic - Via S. Sofia n. 78, 95123 Catania, Italy. gaetanobertinounict@libero.it
Telephone: +39-09-53781573 Fax: +39-09-53781572
Received: April 23, 2015
Peer-review started: April 24, 2015
First decision: August 10, 2015
Revised: November 23, 2015
Accepted: December 17, 2015
Article in press: December 18, 2015
Published online: January 18, 2016
Abstract

Over the last years it has started a real revolution in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. This occurred for the availability of direct-acting antiviral agents that allow to reach sustained virologic response in approximately 90% of cases. In the near future further progress will be achieved with the use of pan-genotypic drugs with high efficacy but without side effects.

Keywords: Direct-acting antiviral agents, Nucleoside inhibitors, Boceprevir, Sofosbuvir, Telaprevir, Hepatitis C, Simeprevir, Daclatasvir, Ledipasvir, Faldaprevir, Ritonavir, Ombitasvir, Dasabuvir

Core tip: This review analyzes the current therapies for chronic hepatitis C and the future challenges of the research. So it tries to give an update on the research of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, providing a critical view of the emerging therapies and their impact on the future management of HCV infection. Since novel treatments for HCV infection are highly efficacious but costly, priority should be given to patients with advanced hepatic fibrosis, which is a disease that cannot be deferred.