Pathophysiology of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C

This document discusses the pathophysiology of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C, including the role of the immune system in the progression of the diseases. It covers the transmission, symptoms, and potential complications of these viral infections.

Running Head: HEPATITIS B AND HEPATITIS C
Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C
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Pathophysiology of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C
Hepatitis is described as a virus which causes inflammation of the liver. Various strains
of hepatitis occur, entailing A, B, C, and D. It is key to note that the common forms of hepatitis
are A, B, and C. Hepatitis B and C usually causes chronic or long-term infections while hepatitis
A causes short-term infection. In the United States of America, most people have viral hepatitis
while it is approximated that 73000 people become infected annually (Motoyama et al. 2018).
When an individual first contract the virus, he or she may develop a mild illness with few or no
signs and symptoms or get a more adverse illness which may last for months. Hepatitis C and
Hepatitis B may progress to a lifelong or chronic infection, that may result in adverse health
problems such as liver cancer, damage of the liver or even death. Hepatitis B is a liver illness
caused by the Hepatis B virus (Mahmoud, El-Mazary & Khodeary, 2016). Hepatitis B virus
differs in severity from a mild illness which can last for a few weeks to a serious chronic illness
which can result in liver cancer or liver disease.
An individual can get Hepatitis B virus when he or she gets into contact with the infected
blood, semen or any other fluid in the body from having a sexual intercourse with an infected
individual, from an infected mother to her child, or injecting drugs into a person with
contaminated needles (Tang et al. 2018). Hepatitis is a liver illness caused by the Hepatitis C
virus (Hecht et al. 2018). Hepatitis C virus infection usually leads to an acute illness, however,
most often becomes a chronic situation which may results in liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. A
person can get Hepatitis C virus when he or she comes in contact with the blood of an infected
individual (Raof, 2015), primarily via sharing contaminated needs to inject drugs (Multan et al.
2018). Hepatitis C virus normally infects more than 171 million individuals globally (Tyler et al.

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2014). Chronic infections exist in 51-81% of cases and ultimately results in hepatocellular
carcinoma and cirrhosis (Aminianfar, Khani & Ghasemzadeh, 2017).
The Role of Immune System in progression of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C
The immune system is the defense of the body against infections. When the body is
infected with hepatitis B or Hepatitis C virus, the immune system comes into action. It should be
noted that the immune system of about 15% to 46% of individuals infected with HBV or HCV
are able to fight the virus and rid it out of their bodies in a phenomenon known as spontaneous
clearance. Responses of innate immunity play a significant role in the elimination of HBV and
HCV (Wahid & Dubuisson, 2013). Innate immunity against hepatitis C and hepatitis B virus
entail antiviral cytokines release like type I interferon as well as the activation of the cells like
natural killer cells. Although it has been revealed that responses of human system contribute to
the result of infection (Li et al. 2015), the ultimate of a successful elimination of a virus is a
continued adaptative response of immune system (Ma et al. 2014). More importantly, CD8+ and
CD4+ T-cells responses are normally said to play a key role in the infection outcomes (Dai,
Huang, Chen, Yang & Gong, 2015).
In addition, the emerging co-infection of HCV and HBV with HIV/AIDS have led to a
further challenging health issue (Lydié et al. 2018). The responses of immune system may be put
in two categories, that is, cellular and humoral arm. It should be noted that in humoral responses
exists antibodies which neutralizes specific virus in the body for both infections (Tan et al.
2017). Nevertheless, reports show that humoral responses do not seem to vitally contribute to the
clearance of the virus during acute HCV or HBV infection (Larrubia, Benito-Martínez and
Miquel, 2011). Nevertheless, various studies have revealed that CD8+ cytotoxic T-cell and
CD4+ T-cell-mediated response of immunity influence the results of HCV and HBV infections

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(Li-Ping Pan et al. 2012). Therefore, spontaneous clearance of the HCV and HBV infection is
attributed to continued and vigorous multi-epitope-particular CD8+ and CD4+ response of T-
cells during the short-term phase of infection. It should be noted that in lon-term infection is
correlated with late, temporary narrowly or week focused CD8+ and CD4 T-cells responses
(Maysaa El Sayed, Mansour, Ghal & Abou-Zahra, 2011). Replication of HBV is not cytotoxic to
liver cells, as observed in the huge numbers of asymptomatic carries of hepatitis B virus which
have less liver injury, in spite of continuing intrahepatic virus replication (Guo, 2013).
The response of immune system to antigens of HBV is responsible both for pathogenesis
of the disease and clearance of the virus during short-term infection (Shah, Grimes, Nguyen, Lai
& Hwang, 2015). In the infected individuals, clearance of the virus is followed by development
of a vigorous response of the immune system linked to acute, self-restricted liver inflammation
disease. response of the immune system involved in clearance of virus comprise both cellular
and humoral immunity (Liu et al. 2016).

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