The mean age of the PNALT subjects in the present study was 8 years older than that in the abnormal ALT group, suggesting that a substantial percentage of them may have reached the PNALT status through a variety of immunological conditions, from an active cellular immune response at the time of acute hepatitis C and in the initial stage of HCV carriage to a subsequent inhibition/failure of the cellular immune response favoring the progressionto the clinical and histological profile characteristic of PNALT. This evidence concerns the gene GPT and hepatitis C virus infection.