1. Introduction
Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) affects over 150 million people worldwide. The majority of infections
evolve to chronicity and liver disease starting from steatosis and fibrosis to cirrhosis and hepatocellular
carcinoma [1]. Until recently, the standard for therapy has been represented by pegylated interferon alpha
plus ribavirin. The treatment had significant side effects and variable efficacy depending on the viral
genotype. In the last two years, HCV therapy has been profoundly improved with the approval of direct
acting antivirals in the clinical practice (reviewed in [2]). The new gold standard for treatment has a
better sustained virological response rate with significant reduction of the treatment period and less side
effects. Despite significant advances in HCV therapy, the drug resistance and genotype specific efficacy
are still issues to be considered.