Over twenty-five years of research has revealed the molecular mechanisms of the association between
HCV and lipid metabolism. The emergence of an infectious system able to sustain robust amplification
of HCV in cell culture (HCVcc) boosted our understanding of the role of lipids in each step of the virallife cycle [10–12]. Lipid metabolism is deeply involved in the molecular mechanisms of the HCV
infectious cycle. While HCV is a lipoviroparticle that uses lipid-related factors for entry, viral replication
is associated with profound changes of intracellular membrane architecture and viral assembly and
secretion take place in the microenvironment of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and lipid droplets (LD)
overlapping with the very-low density lipoprotein (VLDL) secretion pathway. The aim of this review is
to present an update on HCV-lipid metabolism interactions.