Contribution of common variants in the complement factor H gene to fibrogenesis in chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection

Background We recently showed that the complement factor 5 is a quantitative trait gene that modifies liver fibrogenesis. We thus hypothesized that variations in other factors regulating the complement system might also influence fibrosis progression. Of note, common variants of the CFH gene encoding the complement inhibitor factor H have been identified as susceptibility loci for the development of age-related macular degeneration (Science 2005;308: 385–9), which displays histo-pathological characteristics of organ fibrosis like deposition of extracellular matrix proteins and progressive fibrotic tissue degener…