[Syndrome of overlap: Chronic hepatitis C/autoimmune hepatitis: fact or fancy?]

Non-organ specific autoantibodies are common in patients with chronic hepatitis C, making differential diagnosis difficult between viral, autoimmune forms and hepatitis C/autoimmune hepatitis overlap syndrome. The lack of additional criteria of autoimmunity in most patients leads to the definition of a "false" hepatitis C-autoimmune hepatitis overlap syndrome, while the "true" overlap syndrome occurs in a very few number of subjects. In patients with "false" overlap syndrome the first choice therapy is based on the administration of interferon plus ribavirin. On the contrary, first-line therapy with corticosteroids should be restricted to the "true" hepatitis overlap syndrome with the new therapeutic option of interferon/corticosteroid association.