Sarcoidosis in untreated chronic hepatitis C virus infection.
Chronic hepatitis C has been implicated in the pathogenesis of sarcoidosis in several cases of patients treated with interferon-alpha. On the other hand, only in a few cases previously has a possible link between sarcoidosis and untreated chronic hepatitis C virus infection been demonstrated. We report on a patient with chronic hepatitis C who developed cutaneous sarcoidosis without prior interferon-alpha treatment. We hypothesize that viral persistence seen in chronic hepatitis C virus infection might be one of the potential factors that trigger cellular immune response in granulomatous reactions as seen in sarcoidosis, in genetically predisposed patients.
Tsimpoukas
F
F
Dept. of Internal Medicine, Sotiria General Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece. fotistsi@otenet.gr
Goritsas
C
C
Papadopoulos
N
N
Trigidou
R
R
Ferti
A
A
D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000209:etiology*; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000209:etiology*