Department of Immunopathology of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Medical University of Warsaw, Poland.
Adv Med Sci. 2012;57(2):370-4. doi: 10.2478/v10039-012-0024-8.
Genetic variability of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is considered to be an important factor defining viral pathogenesis, persistence and resistance to treatment. The aim of the present study was to characterize HCV genetic heterogeneity within a hypervariable region 1 (HVR-1) before and during the early period of pegylated interferon alfa (PEG-IFN-α) and ribavirin treatment in correlation with treatment outcome.
The study involved 24 patients treated with PEG-IFN-α and ribavirin whose sera were collected before (baseline) and at 7, 14, 21 28 and 56 day of treatment. HCV HVR-1 region was amplified by nested RT- PCR and subjected to SSCP (single strand conformational polymorphism) analysis. SSCP changes of HCV HVR-1 over time in each patient were compared to treatment outcome results.
In 2/11 (18%) SVR+ and 8/13 (62%) SVR- treated patients, HVR-1 genetic changes manifested by new SSCP bands (new genetic variants) and were significantly more frequent in nonresponders (P <0.05).
Our results indicate that HCV HVR-1 variability during the early phase of PEG-IFN-α and ribavirin therapy may be predictive of treatment outcome.
丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）的遗传变异性被认为是决定病毒发病机制、持续性和对治疗的耐药性的重要因素。本研究的目的是在聚乙二醇干扰素α（PEG-IFN-α）和利巴韦林治疗前和早期，描述 HCV 高变区 1（HVR-1）内的遗传异质性，并与治疗结果相关联。
本研究涉及 24 例接受 PEG-IFN-α和利巴韦林治疗的患者，在治疗前（基线）和治疗后第 7、14、21、28 和 56 天采集血清。通过嵌套 RT-PCR 扩增 HCV HVR-1 区，并进行 SSCP（单链构象多态性）分析。比较每个患者 HCV HVR-1 随时间的 SSCP 变化与治疗结果。
在 11 例 SVR+（18%）和 13 例 SVR-（62%）治疗患者中，有 2 例（18%）和 8 例（62%）出现新的 SSCP 带（新的遗传变异），这在无应答者中更为频繁（P <0.05）。
我们的结果表明，PEG-IFN-α和利巴韦林治疗早期 HCV HVR-1 的变异性可能是治疗结果的预测因素。
