Treatment of hepatitis C-associated glomerular disease.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection can lead to chronic active hepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver failure; however it is also associated with a wide range of extrahepatic features. Renal manifestations include cryoglobulinemic membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis and membranous nephropathy. Treatment of HCV with alpha-interferon is only moderately effective and suffers from a high relapse rate. More recently, combination therapy with ribavirin has led to improved suppression of HCV RNA levels. In this review we briefly describe the features of renal disease associated with HCV infection and discuss the therapeutic options.