Hepatitis C—Route of Asymptomatic to Symptomatic Switch in Raising Hepatocarcinogenesis: Revisiting Nobel Prize 2020 in Physiology and Medicine

The Nobel committee has awarded Harvey J Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 2020 for the discovery of HCV from contaminated blood. Hepatitis is a liver inflammatory disease caused by the Hepatitis B virus (HBV). Till date, HBV is known to cause liver inflammation through blood transfusion. However, a novel “non-A non-B hepatitis” (NANBH) has recently emerged responsible for liver inflammation, following the same route as HBV. At the beginning (after infection), the NANBH viral proteins gradually alter the function and pathways of normal hepatocyte cells in the liver to promote fibrosis to cirrhosis and eventually to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This phenomenon is presented in the present communication. Hepatocarcinogenesis is attributed to asymptomatic infection by ss ( +) RNA virus, Hepatitis C of family Flaviviridae. Specific drugs that target HCV life cycle or patient immune response are in the process of development.