Study of Interleukin 28B rs12979860 and rs8099917 Polymorphisms and T-helper 1 Response in Hepatitis C Virus Patients.

HCV infection is a serious public health problem and a leading cause of chronic liver disease. It affects nearly 3% of the world's population with an associated high mortality. Egypt has the highest prevalence of HCV infection in the world (estimated at >10%). Peg-IFN-α and RBV are the most widely used therapy for HCV. Unfortunately, the rate of SVR is around 50%. In addition, it is expensive and associated with considerable adverse effects. Thus selection of patients with the highest probability of response is essential for clinical practice. It is suggested that some SNPs near IL- 28B gene could be important genetic predictors of treatment response among HCV. Our study aimed to study two different Interleukin 28B polymorphisms (rs12979860 and rs8099917) and T-helper 1 response in HCV infected patients. The current study was conducted on 60 chronic HCV infected patients and 20 healthy volunteers. Grouping of patients was done according to response to treatment into naïve, responder and non-responder HCV patients. Assessment of liver functions' tests, measuring HCV RNA levels using real time PCR, measurement of interferon-γ levels using ELISA and genotyping of IL-28 rs2979860 and rs8099917 SNPs using 5' nuclease assay were done. Concerning IL-28B rs12979860; TT genotype was highly expressed in non-responder HCV patients but statistically insignificant. While for IL-28B rs8099917, there was lack of association between its different genotypes and SVR. IFN- level was significantly increased among responder HCV patients carrying IL28B rs12979860 TT genotype and/or IL28B rs8099917 GG allele. There was statistically significant positive correlation between L28B rs8099917 GG genotype and HCV-RNA. In conclusion, IL-28B rs12979860 SNP could be used as an independent predictor for treatment response among HCV patients.