The clinical importance of HFE gene heterozygous mutantions in chronic liver disease is not fully understood and various and controversial data have been published on the subject in different parts of the world. The authors examined patients with chronic hepatitis B or C, liver cirrhosis due to chronic infections of HBV or HCV, and alcoholic, primary biliary or cryptogenic cirrhosis for HFE gene mutations (C282Y, H63D, S65C)