Metabolic Dysfunction‐Associated Steatotic Liver Disease After Hepatitis C Virus Cure Chung‐Feng Huang, Jee‐Fu Huang, Ming‐Lung Yu, Wan‐Long Chuang The Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences.2026;[Epub] CrossRef
Impact of Cardiometabolic Risk Factors and Steatotic Liver Disease on Liver‐Related Outcomes in Patients With Chronic Hepatitis C After Curative Antiviral Therapy Chung‐Feng Huang, Yi‐Hung Lin, Pei‐Chien Tsai, Ming‐Lun Yeh, Chih‐Wen Wang, Tyng‐Yuan Jang, Po‐Cheng Liang, Yu‐Ju Wei, Nai‐Jen Hou, Ming‐Yen Hsieh, Chao‐Kuan Huang, Tzu‐Chun Lin, Jee‐Fu Huang, Chia‐Yen Dai, Wan‐Long Chuang, Ming‐Lung Yu The Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences.2026;[Epub] CrossRef
Hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance after sustained virological response in chronic hepatitis C: Editorial on “Non-invasive prediction of post-sustained virological response hepatocellular carcinoma in hepatitis C virus: A systematic review and meta-ana Ho Soo Chun, Minjong Lee Clinical and Molecular Hepatology.2025; 31(1): 261. CrossRef
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Background/Aims Steatotic liver disease (SLD) is a common manifestation in chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Metabolic alterations in CHC are associated with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). We aimed to elucidate whether hepatitis C virus (HCV) eradication mitigates MASLD occurrence or resolution.
Methods We enrolled 5,840 CHC patients whose HCV was eradicated by direct-acting antivirals in a nationwide HCV registry. MASLD and the associated cardiometabolic risk factors (CMRFs) were evaluated at baseline and 6 months after HCV cure.
Results There were 2,147 (36.8%) patients with SLD, and 1,986 (34.0%) of them met the MASLD criteria before treatment. After treatment, HbA1c (6.0% vs. 5.9%, P<0.001) and BMI (24.8 kg/m2 vs. 24.7 kg/m2, P<0.001) decreased, whereas HDL-C (49.1 mg/dL vs. 51.9 mg/dL, P<0.001) and triglycerides (102.8 mg/dL vs. 111.9 mg/dL, P<0.001) increased significantly. The proportion of patients with SLD was 37.5% after HCV eradication, which did not change significantly compared with the pretreatment status. The percentage of the patients who had post-treatment MASLD was 34.8%, which did not differ significantly from the pretreatment status (P=0.17). Body mass index (BMI) (odds ratio [OR] 0.89; 95% confidence intervals [CI] 0.85–0.92; P<0.001) was the only factor associated with MASLD resolution. In contrast, unfavorable CMRFs, including BMI (OR 1.10; 95% CI 1.06–1.14; P<0.001) and HbA1c (OR 1.19; 95% CI 1.04–1.35; P=0.01), were independently associated with MASLD development after HCV cure.
Conclusions HCV eradication mitigates MASLD in CHC patients. CMRF surveillance is mandatory for CHC patients with metabolic alterations, which are altered after HCV eradication and predict the evolution of MASLD.
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Metabolic Dysfunction‐Associated Steatotic Liver Disease After Hepatitis C Virus Cure Chung‐Feng Huang, Jee‐Fu Huang, Ming‐Lung Yu, Wan‐Long Chuang The Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences.2026;[Epub] CrossRef
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Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the major etiologies of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with approximately 30% of HCC being due to HCV infection worldwide. HCV eradication by antivirals greatly reduces the risk of HCC; nevertheless, HCC remains to occur in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients who have achieved a sustained virological response (SVR). The proportion of post-SVR HCC among newly diagnosed HCC patients is increasing in the direct-acting antiviral (DAA) era and might be due to preexisting inflammatory and fibrotic liver backgrounds, immune dysregulation between host and virus interactions, as well as host epigenetic scars, genetic predispositions and alternations. By means of applying surrogate markers and adopting risk stratification, HCC surveillance should be consistently performed in high-risk populations. In this review, we discuss the possible molecular mechanism, risk factors, and HCC surveillance strategy for HCC development after HCV eradication in CHC patients.
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