The potential role of hepatitis C virus in the pathogenesis of the neurological syndrome in chronic hepatitis C.
A 72-year-old man developed chronic sensory neuropathy (CSN) during chronic hepatitis C (HCV) infection. Neurological symptoms began one year after acute HCV hepatitis and slowly worsened over three years. No conventional cause for CSN was found. Circulating antinervous tissue antibodies (including anti-Hu) and inflammatory infiltrates in sural nerve biopsy specimens were absent. However, the presence of anti-HCV antibody and HCV-RNA in cerebrospinal fluid indicated that HCV had reached the intrathecal compartment, suggesting the direct viral involvement in the pathogenesis of CSN.
Caudai
C
C
Department of Molecular Biology, University of Siena, Italy.
Maimone
D
D
Almi
P
P
Annunziata
P
P
Bastianoni
I
I
Boggiano
C A
CA
Guazzi
G C
GC
Padula
M
M
Valensin
P E
PE
D000368:Aged; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications*; D006521:Hepatitis, Chronic / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000821:virology*; D009475:Neurons, Afferent; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral