The contribution of chronic hepatitis C virus infection and iron overload to hepatocellular injury in β thalassemia major patients.

Patients with β thalassemia major represent another example of nearly universal early-life posttransfusional hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. As such they permit unique observations about the natural history of HCV infection in the context of secondary iron overload. Even if made in a very restraint and peculiar group of patients, the study of iron-HCV interplay in the genesis of hepatic lesions retains its value for the broad understanding of viral hepatitis C pathophysiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]