Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Infect Dis. Nov 25, 2015; 5(4): 59-66
Published online Nov 25, 2015. doi: 10.5495/wjcid.v5.i4.59
New biomarkers for clinical management of hepatitis C virus infected patients
Alessandra Biasiolo, Andrea Martini, Patrizia Pontisso
Alessandra Biasiolo, Andrea Martini, Patrizia Pontisso, Department of Medicine, University of Padua, 35128 Padua, Italy
Author contributions: Biasiolo A designed the study, acquired data and drafted the article; Martini A acquired data and reviewed the manuscript; Pontisso P conceived the study and made the final critical revision of the manuscript; all authors had seen and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by University of Padua (found 2011 - prot. No. STPD11RYPT_003).
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare no conflicting interests.
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: Patrizia Pontisso, Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Padua, Via Giustiniani, 2, 35128 Padua, Italy. patrizia@unipd.it
Telephone: +39-49-8217872 Fax: +39-49-8754179
Received: July 11, 2015
Peer-review started: July 15, 2015
First decision: August 25, 2015
Revised: August 28, 2015
Accepted: October 16, 2015
Article in press: October 19, 2015
Published online: November 25, 2015
Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third most frequent oncological cause of death worldwide, principally a consequence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and its prognosis is mostly poor. For early identification and surveillance of HCV patients with liver disease progression, the availability of suitable diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers is still an unmet clinical need. Alfa-fetoprotein together with imaging techniques is commonly used, however its specificity and sensitivity are not satisfactory. Several clinical and serological data have been proposed to define the risk of disease progression in HCV infected patients and new biomarkers have been proposed, including post-transcriptionally modified molecules and genetic biomarkers. The present editorial article attempts to summarize the current knowledge on the new promising tools for effective early diagnosis of HCV-related liver disease progression and for the surveillance of HCC.

Keywords: Hepatitis C virus infection, Biomarkers, Liver disease progression, Hepatocellular carcinoma

Core tip: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), leading to liver failure and/or liver transplantation. The current knowledge on the new promising biomarkers, able to predict the progression of HCV-related liver disease and HCC, has been the focus of this editorial.