TNF-alpha 308 SNP Rs3091256 GG Genotype is Strongly Associated with Fibrosis in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C

Abstract

ÖZObjective: We aimed to review the influence of host genetic factors on the clinical course, treatment response as well as fibrosis progression in patients with viral hepatitis C genotype 1. Materials and Methods: Ninety-five patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and 97 controls were enrolled. The patients received pegylated interferon (Peg-IFN)+ribavirin therapy for 48 weeks and were followed up for the next 48 weeks. Aspartat aminotransferase/platelet ratio (APRI) was used to detect liver fibrosis DNA specimens were extracted from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells and the tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) 308 rs3091256 was genotyped by the polymerase chain reactionrestriction fragment length polymorphism method. Results: All patients included in the study were infected with HCV genotype 1. of the 95 HCV-positive patients, spontaneous viral clearence was observed in 25.5%, rapid viral response in 44.2%, early viral response in 91.8%, and sustained viral response was found in 73.3% of patients. The allele and genotype were not significant between patients and controls. There was no significant difference in virologic response as well. However, TNF-α-308 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) rs3091256 GG genotype was strongly associated with fibrosis and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels (p=0.006 and p=0.017, respectively). Conclusion: TNF-α-308 polymorphisms may reveal different results among countries. Patients having SNP rs3091256 GG are prone to have higher ALT levels and fibrosis score but have better treatment outcome.