Reductions of PDGF and TIMP-1 concentrations in serum contribute to resolutions of fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C patients with sustained response to interferon (IFN) therapy

were found to have advanced liver disease based upon their liver disease evaluation that included a liver biopsy. 3/8 were HCV-AB positive by RIBA technique. 2 had severe portal and peri-portal inflammation with necrosis, while the remaining 6 had cirrhosis. All the liver biopsies had features suggestive of hepatitis C infection. None of the patients had HCV-RNA present in the liver. One patient was found to have a 5cm hepatocellular carcinoma. Six of these 8 patients were found to have an identifiable risk factor for HCV infection. 3 patients had abused alcohol up to 2-3 years before being evaluated. Three patients had an elevated ANA titer of 1:160. The remaining 16/24 (66.7%) patients had mild liver disease based upon their laboratory and pathological evaluations. 7/16 patients were also positive for HCV-AB by RIBA technique. 12 underwent liver biopsies showing only minimal to mild liver disease. Conclusion This experience corroborates the reports in literature that spontaneous HCV-RNA negativity can occur in a few patients exposed to hepatitis C infection during the earlier phase of this infection as a consequence of an effective immune reponse without causing much liver pathology. However, this experience expand prior data by documenting that a few such patients (1.5% overall but 33% of these with resolved infections) have significant liver disease including cirrhosis.