Long-term antiviral hepatitis C treatment associated with Rods and Ring Cytoplasmic antibodies

AIM: Clinical description of a patient diagnosed with chronic hepatitis C virus infection, which associated a rare anti-cytoplasmic pattern, known as “Rods and Ring”. METHOD: Clinical case report. RESULTS: A 76-year old female patient with chronic hepatitis C virus infection under treatment for several months with pegylated Interferon-Ribavirin (started eight months ago) presented for clinical and biological evaluation of the therapeutic response. CONCLUSION: This is the first reported clinical case of a patient with cytoplasmic filamentous rods and rings autoantibodies associated with chronic hepatis C from the Clinical Hospital IRGH Prof. Dr. O. Fodor Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The presence of these antibodies appears to be triggered by antiviral therapy. Although these are newly identified antibodies, they could be used as serological markers for detecting patients at risk of developing associated autoimmune pathologies or nonresponders to the antiviral therapy. Likewise, their detection could identify patients with occult hepatitis C infection.