Insights on the disruption of glucose metabolism and hepatic insulin resistance induced by hepatitis C virus

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is still considered as a major public health problem because in 2015 around 71 million people were chronically infected worldwide. It is important to note that chronic HCV infection is a systemic disease that is associated with diverse extrahepatic disorders including insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The discovery of new direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) has become a huge advance in the treatment of HCV infection. The complex interplay between HCV and glucose metabolic pathways remains to be fully elucidated, but it is becoming clearer that elimination of chronic HCV infection halts the progression of liver disease, but more evidence is still needed to better understand how successful antiviral treatment influences insulin resistance and other abnormalities of glucose metabolism linked to HCV infection. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the glucose metabolism disturbances related to chronic HCV infection, highlighting the new insights into the molecular basis of insulin resistance induced by HCV and the mechanisms underlying the reversion of this metabolic disorder by DAAs.