Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The viral hepatitis by HBV, HDV, and HCV have represented the major aetiology of acute and chronic hepatitis in recent decades worldwide. For example, HBV was the major factor for hepatocellular carcinoma, HDV was associated a more severe forms of chronic hepatitis, HCV was the principal aetiology of chronic hepatitis in Western countries.

However, today they have several challenges in the knowledge and management of HCV and HBV, due to the development of very efficacious antiviral treatment, have a good prognosis today; however, for these infections the challenge is represented by the case finding and linkage-to-care of the positive subjects, not only in difficult-to reach populations, such as intravenous drug users, prisoners, and immigrants, but also in the general population. For example, since the high efficacy of direct anti-viral agents (DAA) treatment, the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2015 suggested that HCV could be eliminated by HCV treatmentwithin 2030 (i.e., 90% reduction in new chronic infections, 65% reduction in mortality). Moreover, the new challenge for HBV infection is, today, the availability of new diagnostic markers and of possible functional cures. The challenge for HDV infection is today the identification of its epidemiology worldwide and the development of new therapeutic strategies.

Authors are cordially invited to contribute original research papers or reviews to this Special Issue of Pathogens.

Prof. Dr. Nicola Coppola
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pathogens is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

HBV
HDV
HCV
antiviral therapy
diagnostic tools

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

Jump to: Review

6 pages, 223 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Safety and Efficacy of Direct Antiviral Agents for Hepatitis C in Patients with Malignancies Other Than Liver Cancer: A Case Series

by Fabian Patauner, Maria Stanzione, Gianfranca Stornaiuolo, Veronica Martone, Roberta Palladino, Nicola Coppola, Emanuele Durante-Mangoni and Rosa Zampino

Pathogens 2022, 11(8), 860; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens11080860 - 29 Jul 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1594

Abstract

(1) Background: direct-acting antivirals (DAA) are the current standard of care for chronic hepatitis C. Oncologic patients remain among the most difficult-to-treat subgroups of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients due to their clinical frailty and complex therapeutic protocols received. (2) Methods: we retrospectively collected and analysed clinical data of 30 consecutive patients treated with DAA, between 2015 and 2022, for chronic HCV infection in the context of oncologic disease. (3) Results: most patients were females (63.3%), median age was 67 years, HCV genotype 1 was prevalent (60%), and median HCV RNA levels were 2.2 × 10⁶ IU/mL. The most common malignancy was breast cancer (37%), and the chief oncologic drugs co-administered with DAAs were tamoxifen, platinum derivatives, cyclophosphamide, paclitaxel, rituximab and doxorubicin. Overall, 50% of patients had chronic hepatitis. A total of 76.7% underwent a sofosbuvir-based treatment. Sustained virological response 12 weeks after the end of therapy (SVR12) was reached in all patients. After SVR12, two patients died. DAA treatment was well tolerated; no patients had to stop DAA treatment or showed any adverse event or drug-drug interaction specifically attributable to DAAs. (4) Conclusions: DAA treatment should be promptly offered to oncologic patients with chronic hepatitis C in order to achieve aminotransferase normalization and viremia control, making antineoplastic therapy feasible and safe. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Viral Hepatitis: The New Challenge in the Era of Antiviral Treatments)

Review

Jump to: Research

10 pages, 754 KiB

Open AccessReview

COVID-19 as Another Trigger for HBV Reactivation: Clinical Case and Review of Literature

by Caterina Sagnelli, Laura Montella, Pierantonio Grimaldi, Mariantonietta Pisaturo, Loredana Alessio, Stefania De Pascalis, Evangelista Sagnelli and Nicola Coppola

Pathogens 2022, 11(7), 816; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens11070816 - 21 Jul 2022

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2547

Abstract

Universal hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination has been applied for years in most countries, but HBV infection remains an unresolved public health problem worldwide, with over one-third of the world’s population infected during their lifetime and approximately 248 million hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) chronic carriers. HBV infection may reactivate with symptomatic and sometimes life-threatening clinical manifestations due to a reduction in the immune response of various origins, due to chemotherapy or immunosuppressive therapy, treatments increasingly practiced worldwide. SARS-CoV-2 and its COVID-19 associated disease have introduced new chances for HBV reactivation due to the use of dexamethasone and tocilizumab to counteract the cytokine storm. This could and should be prevented by accurate screening of HBV serologic markers and adequate pharmacologic prophylaxis. This article describes the case of a patient with COVID-19 who developed HBV reactivation and died of liver failure and analyzes published data on this setting to provide useful information to physicians who manage these patients during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Viral Hepatitis: The New Challenge in the Era of Antiviral Treatments)

► Show Figures