MHC class I-related chain B gene polymorphism is associated with virological response to pegylated interferon plus ribavirin therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C infection

Abstract

The outcome of antiviral therapy is associated with viral and host factors. In the present study, the association between MHC class I-related chain B () genotypes and therapeutic response to pegylated interferon plus ribavirin (PEG-IFN/RBV) therapy was investigated in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients. In total, 107 patients with chronic HCV infection (74 with HCV serotype 1 and 33 with serotype 2) were enrolled. Genotyping of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs3828913 and interleukin-28B () SNP rs8099917 was performed using TaqMan SNP genotyping assays. The genotype distribution of the alleles was: CC, 79.4%; CA, 17.8%; and AA, 2.8%. Sustained virological response (SVR) was achieved by 55.1% (59/107) of the HCV patients. The SVR rate of patients with major (CC) alleles was 62.3% and this rate was significantly higher than that of the patients with minor (CA and AA) alleles (27.2%) (P=0.0068). A multivariate logistic model showed that the major genotype was an independent factor contributing to SVR (OR, 4.47; 95% CI, 1.46-13.70; P=0.009). In addition, the genotype was identified as the sole independent factor contributing to SVR and non-virological response in HCV serotype 1 patients with the major genotype. In HCV serotype 2 patients, the genotype was the sole significant factor contributing to SVR (OR, 30.68; 95% CI, 2.72-346.3; P=0.006). In conclusion, the genotype is a strong predictive factor for virological response to PEG-IFN/RBV therapy in HCV patients.

Hepatitis C Genotype Prevalence in Monastir Region, Tunisia: Correlation between 5′ Untranslated Region (5′UTR), Non-structural 5B (NS5B), and Core Sequences in HCV Subtyping

“…The outcome of antiviral therapy has been reported to be associated with viral and host factors. Representative viral factors are HCV genotype, high HCV RNA titers, and amino acid substitutions in the NS5A and core region [6]. Host factors include age, body mass index, and stage of liver fibrosis and have an important influence on treatment outcome [38], while the most important viral factors for predicting response to interferon-based therapy are genotype and viral load at baseline [40].…”