Impact of the IL-18 gene polymorphism in response to antiviral therapy in chronic HCV genotype 4 patients

Abstract

Introduction: Interleukin (IL)-18 is a well-known major proinfl ammatory cytokine with broad biological effects. The major immunomodulatory functions of IL-18 include enhancing T cell and natural killer cell cytotoxicity. Serum levels of this cytokine were shown to increase in chronic hepatitis C patients compared to non-infected healthy people. An association between IL-18 gene promoter polymorphisms and pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin treatment outcomes has been reported for individuals with chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1 (HCV-1). In this study, HCV genotype 4 (HCV-4) patients were assessed for IL-18 gene polymorphisms and treatment outcomes or severity of liver disease because data concerning the impact of IL-18 gene polymorphisms on patients with HCV-4 infections are limited. Methods: This study included 123 chronic HCV-4 Egyptian patients and 123 apparently healthy volunteer blood donors who served as a control group. HCV genotyping was performed using the line probe assay. IL-18 genotyping was performed using the TaqMan Real-Time PCR method in all 246 patient and control samples. Results: In our study, all patients had HCV-4. IL-18 gene single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) (-607C/A) genotype distributions and allele frequencies did not differ between HCV patients and normal healthy subjects or between patient groups when compared according to the therapeutic response. Moreover, the presence of an IL-18 SNP was not associated with histological disease severity. We conclude that the presence of the IL-18 SNP rs1946518 does not affect the outcome of chronic HCV-4 treatment in Egyptian patients. Conclusions: The IL-18 SNP rs1946518 does not affect response to treatment in chronic HCV-4 patients.

Interleukin-18 and its gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) influence chronic hepatitis C progression

“…The present study showed no statistically significant difference in distribution of alleles of IL-18 genotypes -607 and -137 in the studied cases as regards serum HCV-RNA viral load. This observation comes in agreement with that found by previous studies [4,24,25]. In the present study, the studied cases were divided according to the METAVIR fibrosis stage (that reflects severity and advancement of hepatitis C) and allele frequencies were studied and compared in patients with different stages.…”

Genetic polymorphisms -137 (rs187238) and -607 (rs1946518) in the interleukin-18 promoter may not be associated with development of hepatocellular carcinoma

“…We excluded 581 studies based on review of the titles and abstracts. We excluded another seven studies20212223242526 because they were not case-control studies, three studies because they did not report genotypes272829, and eight studies3031323334353637 because they did not involve patients with HCC. A further two studies3839 were excluded because they included either patients with only liver cirrhosis or an aggregated patient population with HCC or liver cirrhosis.…”

Association between interleukin-18 gene promoter (−607C/A and −137G/C) polymorphisms and chronic hepatitis C virus infections: A meta-analysis

“…A total of 4 studies with 1222 cases and 1115 controls for − 607C/A polymorphism and 3 studies with 959 cases and 987 controls for − 137G/C polymorphism were included in this meta-analysis ( Bouzgarrou et al, 2008 , Haas et al, 2009 , Imran et al, 2014 , Mandour et al, 2014 ). The genotype distributions in the controls for all of the included studies were consistent with Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium.…”