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Hepatitis C virus infection and the brain

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Abstract

There is growing evidence that hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infection may affect the brain. About half of the HCV-infected patients complain of chronic fatigue irrespective of their stage of liver disease or virus replication rate. Even after successful antiviral therapy fatigue persists in about one third of the patients. Many patients, in addition, report of deficits in attention, concentration and memory, some also of depression. Psychometric testing revealed deficits in attention and verbal learning ability as characteristic for HCV-afflicted patients with normal liver function. Magnetic resonance spectroscopic studies showed alterations of the cerebral choline, N-acetyl-aspartate, and creatine content in the basal ganglia, white matter and frontal cortex, respectively. Recently, pathologic cerebral serotonin and dopamine transporter binding and regional alterations of the cerebral glucose utilisation compatible with alterations of the dopaminergic attentional system were observed. Several studies detected HCV in brain samples or cerebro-spinal fluid. Interestingly, viral sequences in the brain often differed from those in the liver, but were closely related to those found in lymphoid tissue. Therefore, the Trojan horse hypothesis emerged: HCV-infected mononuclear blood cells enter the brain, enabling the virus to reside within the brain (probably in microglia) and to infect brain cells, especially astrocytes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, 30623, Hannover, Germany

    Karin Weissenborn, Anita B. Tryc, Meike Heeren, Hans Worthmann, Henning Pflugrad & Annemarie Goldbecker

  2. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hannover Medical School, 30623, Hannover, Germany

    Georg Berding

  3. Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Hannover Medical School, 30623, Hannover, Germany

    Martin Bokemeyer

  4. Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, DCRI, Duke University, 2400 Pratt Street, Durham, NC, 27705, USA

    Hans L. Tillmann

Authors
  1. Karin Weissenborn
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  2. Anita B. Tryc
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  3. Meike Heeren
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  4. Hans Worthmann
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  5. Henning Pflugrad
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  6. Georg Berding
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  7. Martin Bokemeyer
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  9. Annemarie Goldbecker
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Correspondence to Karin Weissenborn.

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Weissenborn, K., Tryc, A.B., Heeren, M. et al. Hepatitis C virus infection and the brain. Metab Brain Dis 24, 197–210 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-008-9130-5

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