Relationship between the genetic variation in interleukin 28B and response to antiviral therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C

• Published in: Chinese medical journal Vol. 125; no. 13; pp. 2334 - 2338
• Main Authors: Xie, Jun-Qiang, Guo, Xiao-Yan, Zhang, Xiao-Hong, Lin, Bing-Liang, Xie, Dong-Ying, Gao, Zhi-Liang, Wang, Gen-Shu, Zhao, Zhi-Xin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: China Department of Infectious Diseases, Third Affiliated Hospital,Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510630, China%Department of Liver Transplantation, Third Affiliated Hospital,Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510630, China 05.07.2012
• Subjects: Adult; Antiviral Agents - therapeutic use; Genotype; Hepatitis C, Chronic - drug therapy; Hepatitis C, Chronic - genetics; Humans; Interferon-alpha - therapeutic use; Interferons; Interleukins - genetics; Logistic回归分析; Middle Aged; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide - genetics; Ribavirin - therapeutic use; 丙型肝炎病毒; 患者; 慢性感染; 抗病毒; 白细胞介素; 药物治疗; 遗传变异; hepatitis C virus; genetic variation; relapse; interleukin 28B; sustained virological response
• ISSN: 0366-6999; 2542-5641; 2542-5641
• DOI: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.0366-6999.2012.13.017

Background Genetic variations at the interleukin 28B （IL-28B） locus are important in predicting outcome following therapy for chronic hepatitis C virus （HCV） infection. The aim of this research was to evaluate the role of IL-28B single nucleotide polymorphism （SNP） variations in Chinese patients undergoing pegylated interferon-a plus ribavirin （PEG-IFN-a/RBV） treatment. Methods To determine the effect of IL-28B variation on the response to HCV therapy, these variants were genotyped in a cohort of 220 patients who were chronically infected with HCV and received combined PEG-IFN-a/RBV therapy. Results The proportions of rs12979860 CC, CT, and TT genotypes were 71.4%, 25.0%, and 3.6% respectively, in the sustained virological response （SVR） group; 15.8%, 60.5%, and 23.7% respectively, in the null virological response （NVR） group; and 38.1%, 52.4%, and 9.5% respectively, in the relapse （Rel） group （P 〈0.05）. Logistic regression analysis showed that, compared to those having the CC genotype, CT heterozygotes had an increased risk of NVR and Rel （OR=10.95, 95% CI =4.12-29.11, P=1.5×10-7 and OR=3.93, 95% CI =1.86-8.32, P=-2.1×10-4 respectively）. The RNA quantification assay showed that patients with genotype CC exhibited much higher levels of IL-28 expression than those with genotype CT or TT （P 〈0.001）. Conclusions The IL-28B SNP rs12979860 genotype was related to the effectiveness of HCV therapy： patients with the CC rs12979860 genotype had higher rates of SVR than those with the CT or TT genotype, and the CC genotype revealed a significantly higher level of IL-28 mRNA expression.