Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Nov 18, 2016; 8(32): 1343-1353
Published online Nov 18, 2016. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v8.i32.1343
Anti-hepatitis C virus drugs and kidney
Paul Carrier, Marie Essig, Marilyne Debette-Gratien, Denis Sautereau, Annick Rousseau, Pierre Marquet, Jérémie Jacques, Véronique Loustaud-Ratti
Paul Carrier, Marie Essig, Marilyne Debette-Gratien, Annick Rousseau, Pierre Marquet, Véronique Loustaud-Ratti, U850 INSERM, Université de Limoges, 87000 Limoges, France
Paul Carrier, Marilyne Debette-Gratien, Denis Sautereau, Véronique Loustaud-Ratti, Jéremie Jacques, Service d’Hépato-gastroentérologie, CHU Limoges, 87042 Limoges, France
Author contributions: Carrier P and Loustaud-Ratti V wrote the manuscript; Essig M, Debette-Gratien M, Sautereau D, Rousseau A, Marquet P and Jacques J read the manuscript and conducted a critical analysis.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors have no conflict of interest concerning this work.
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: Paul Carrier, MD, Service d’Hépato-gastroentérologie, CHU Limoges, 2, Avenue Martin Luther King, 87042 Limoges, France. pcarrier@hotmail.fr
Telephone: +33-5-55058726 Fax: +33-5-55056767
Received: March 26, 2016
Peer-review started: March 26, 2016
First decision: May 23, 2016
Revised: July 27, 2016
Accepted: September 13, 2016
Article in press: September 18, 2016
Published online: November 18, 2016
Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) mainly targets the liver but can also induce extrahepatic manifestations. The kidney may be impacted via an immune mediated mechanism or a cytopathic effect. HCV patients are clearly at a greater risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) than uninfected patients are, and the presence of CKD increases mortality. Interferon-based therapies and ribavirin are difficult to manage and are poorly effective in end-stage renal disease and hemodialysis. These patients should be given priority treatment with new direct anti-viral agents (DAAs) while avoiding peginterferon and ribavirin. The first results were convincing. To aid in the correct use of these drugs in patients with renal insufficiency, their pharmacokinetic properties and potential renal toxicity must be known. The renal toxicity of these new drugs was not a safety signal in clinical trials, and the drugs are generally efficient in these frail populations. These drugs are usually well tolerated, but recent cohort studies have demonstrated that these new regimens may be associated with renal side effects, especially when using sofosbuvir combinations. HCV, renal diseases and comorbidities are intimately linked. The close monitoring of renal function is required, particularly for at-risk patients (transplanted, HIV-coinfected, CKD, hypertensive or diabetic patients). New DAA regimens, which will soon be approved, will probably change the landscape.

Keywords: Nephrotoxicity, Hepatitis C, Direct anti-viral agents, Kidney, End-stage renal disease

Core tip: Hepatitis C patients are clearly at risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD). New direct anti-viral agents (DAAs) with different pharmacokinetic properties are generally efficient in such populations. However, renal toxicity has been described in frail patients such as patients with CKD, transplants and human immunodeficiency virus co-infections under real-life conditions, especially with sofosbuvir combinations. New DAAs, which will be soon approved, will probably change the landscape favorably. Close monitoring of renal function is required for at-risk patients, but patients without comorbidities are probably at a very low risk of renal toxicity.