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Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections affect approximately 296 million people around the world, and the prevalence of any past or present HBV infection during the years 2015–2018 was as high as 4.3%. Acute HBV infection often presents with nonspecific symptoms and is usually self-limited, but 5% of patients can have persistent infections leading to chronic HBV infection and the risk of turning into chronic HBV infection is significantly higher in babies with vertical transmission (95%). Patients with chronic HBV infection are usually asymptomatic, but 15 to 40% of chronic HBV carriers develop cirrhosis and/or hepatocellular carcinoma. In addition to liver-related disorders, HBV is also associated with several extrahepatic complications, including glomerulonephritis, cryoglobulinemia, neurologic disorders, psychological manifestations, polyarthritis, and dermatologic disorders. Making the diagnosis of HBV can be challenging since patients with chronic infections can remain symptom-free for decades before developing cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma, and patients with acute HBV infection may have only mild, nonspecific symptoms. Therefore, understanding how this virus causes extrahepatic complications can help clinicians consider this possibility in patients with diverse symptom presentations. The pathophysiology of these extrahepatic disorders likely involves immune-related tissue injury following immune complex formation and inflammatory cascades. In some cases, direct viral infection of extrahepatic tissue may cause a clinical syndrome. Currently, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases recommends treatment of chronic HBV infections with interferon therapy and/or nucleos(t)ide analogs, and this treatment has been reported to improve some extrahepatic disorders in some patients with chronic HBV infection. These extrahepatic complications have a significant role in disease outcomes and increase medical costs, morbidity, and mortality. Therefore, understanding the frequency and pathogenesis of these extrahepatic complications provides important information for both specialists and nonspecialists and may help clinicians identify patients at an earlier stage of their infection. Full article

The hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection leads to chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocarcinoma. However, about 20% of patients experience extrahepatic manifestations such as polyarteritis nodosa, non-rheumatoid arthritis, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, cryoglobulinemic vasculitis, and glomerulonephritis. These influence the patient’s morbidity, quality of life and mortality. The treatment of an HBV infection is based on nucleotide analogues (NAs) which are safe and effective for the suppression of HBV-DNA in almost 100% of cases. A few studies have shown that NAs induce a viral response and an improvement of extrahepatic diseases. There is a lack of a thorough analysis of the available treatments for extrahepatic HBV manifestations. In 90% to 100% of cases, the NAs stop the HBV replication, and they produce a clinical response in the majority of patients with mild to moderate extrahepatic signs/symptoms. Arthritis can definitely disappear after the HBV elimination and, in some cases, the HBV eradication following NAs therapy appears to improve the renal function in HBV-related nephropathies. Plasma exchange can be used in subjects who are suffering from the most aggressive forms of cryoglobulinemic vasculitis and glomerulonephritis, progressive peripheral neuropathy, and life-threatening cases, and this can be combined with glucocorticosteroids and antiviral agents. In selected refractory patients, the use of rituximab in conjunction with NAs therapy can be considered. The review provides an update on extrahepatic conditions that are linked to HBV and the impact of treating HBV with NAs. Full article

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) chronic infection causes progressive liver damage, although about 20% of patients develop extrahepatic manifestations such as cryoglobulinemic vasculitis (CV). Clinical manifestations range from mild to moderate (purpura, asthenia, arthralgia) to severe (leg ulcers, peripheral neuropathy, glomerulonephritis, non-Hodgkin lymphoma). A comprehensive review of therapeutic options for HBV-related CV is lacking. Nucleos(t)ide analogues (NA) suppress HBV replication in 90–100% of cases and induce clinical response in most patients with mild-to-moderate CV. Plasma exchange can be performed in patients with severe CV and should be considered in severe or life-threatening cases combined with high doses of corticosteroids and antiviral treatment. A cautious use of rituximab can be considered only in association with NA treatment in refractory cases. A review of the literature and an analysis of data collected by six centers of the Italian Group for the Study of Cryoglobulinemia on 18 HBV-CV nucleotide/nucleoside analogues (NAs)-treated patients were carried out. Full article

Introduction: The clinical and therapeutic management of mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC) remains a subject of controversy. In addition, most studies have not recorded the long-term follow-up and the outcome of these cases. Material and Methods: We enrolled 246 patients affected by MC who were consecutively admitted to our Department from January 1993 to February 2013. Clinical and biological data had been recorded until June 2014. Results: The median age (at diagnosis) was 60 years (range 26–83). The aetiology was HCV in 95% of patients, HBV in 3% and “essential” in 2%. HCV genotype was 1b in 57%, genotypes 2–3 in 43%. MC was Type II in 203 of the cases (87%) and Type III in 52 (13%). The most frequent clinical manifestations were purpura (72%), chronic liver disease (70%), glomerulonephritis (35%), arthralgias (58%), peripheral neuropathy (21%), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (15%) and cutaneous ulcers (3%). Purpura, arthralgias, peripheral neuropathy, glomerulonephritis and non-Hodgkin lymphoma were more frequently observed in Type II than in Type III MC (p < 0.05). Treatments were interferon (IFN) or Pegilated-IFN (PEG-IFN) alone or plus Ribavirin (RIBA) in 101 cases, steroids with or without alkylating agents in 33 cases, Rituximab in 8 patients. The complete clinical, virological and immunological responses were associated with PEG-IFN plus RIBA. Severe infections were associated with renal failure. At 10 years, the overall survival rate was 71% in Type II MC and 84% in Type III (p < 0.053). Conclusions: From our data, antiviral therapy is the first-line therapy in HCV-related MC, whereas steroids, alkylating agents and Rituximab should be considered as a second-line therapy. Given the heterogeneity of the disease, the role of these different therapeutic strategies should be checked in randomized controlled trials. Full article