Tsai TL, Jhou HM, Fan FS. Conspicuous Response to Direct-Acting Antivirals in Chronic Hepatitis C-related Immune Thrombocytopenia: A Case Report.
Cureus 2022;
14:e24193. [PMID:
35592216 PMCID:
PMC9110079 DOI:
10.7759/cureus.24193]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
A 39-year-old man with a history of intravenous drug use was diagnosed to have a sudden onset of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) in the background of a chronic hepatitis C infection with genotype 3a. Two courses of high-dose pulse dexamethasone therapy (40 mg daily for consecutive four days) failed to raise the platelet counts, but a combination direct-acting antiviral (DAA) regimen of sofosbuvir and velpatasvir, which had been proved to be effective for all hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes, successfully restored the platelets number to normal ranges after hepatitis C virus ribonucleic acid (RNA) was totally eliminated. Molecular mimicry of hepatitis C virus envelope proteins with platelet surface antigens is proposed to be the underlying cause of immune thrombocytopenia. An adequate direct-acting antiviral regimen is considered to be the most reliable therapy for hepatitis C-related immune thrombocytopenia.
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