Case Report: Anti-HCV Therapy Leads to Remission of Type 2 Diabetes

Although hepatitis C virus (HCV) eradication is known to reduce insulin resistance, remissions of type 2 diabetes are uncommon.

In a case report, doctors Doyle and Cooper of the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada noted resolution of type 2 diabetes in a middle aged man with hepatitis C and a two-year history of type 2 diabetes.

The patient had previously received treatment with peginterferon and ribavirin without attaining a complete response. Four years later, the patient received additional treatment with those 2 traditional agents plus the protease inhibitor boceprevir, which led to a cure of HCV.

Before starting treatment, the patient had an A1C well within the diabetic range—7.9%, but 2 years after the patient was cured, his A1C remains at 5.8% in the absence of antidiabetic therapy.

Not only does this case report show that type 2 diabetes is not always an irreversible process, but it highlights the importance of hepatitis C virus in the pathogenesis of the disease.

Although not all patients with type 2 diabetes will experience remission with cure of hepatitis C virus, such cases are worth noting and studying further for a better understanding of the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes as it relates to viral infections.

Reference

Doyle MA, Cooper C. Successful Hepatitis C Antiviral Therapy Induces Remission of Type 2 Diabetes: A Case Report. Am J Case Rep. 2015;16:745-750.