Autoimmune and Neoplastic Thyroid Diseases Associated with Hepatitis C Chronic Infection

Fallahi, Poupak; Ferrari, Silvia Martina; Politti, Ugo; Giuggioli, Dilia; Ferri, Clodoveo; Antonelli, Alessandro

An increased expression of IFN-and IFN-inducible chemokines [94, 95] , in particular (C-X-C motif) ligand 10 chemokine (CXCL10), has been shown in hepatocytes and in lymphocytes of HCV infected patients, directly related to the degree of inflammation and to an increase in circulating levels of IFN-and CXCL10 [40, [96] [97] [98] [99] [100] [101] [102] [103] . CXCL10 is one of chemokines with C-X-C motif. IP-10 activates specifically CXCR3 receptor that is a G protein-coupled receptor with seven transmembrane domains mainly expressed in T activated lymphocytes, natural-killer cells (NKs), macrophages, and B cells [104, 105] . Recent studies showed that CXCL10 expression in serum and/or tissue levels is increased in autoimmune organ-specific diseases [106] , such as type 1 diabetes [107] [108] [109] , or systemic rheumatological diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis [97, 110] , sarcoidosis [111, 112] , and psoriatic arthritis [113, 114] .