Association of Genotype with Hepatic Steatosis in Chronic Hepatitis C Patients Treated with Peginterferon and Ribavirin Combination Therapy.

BACKGROUND

Genetic variation near the interferon lambda 3 () is known to be associated with response to pegylated interferon (pegIFN) and ribavirin combination therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection which is often accompanied by hepatic steatosis.

AIMS

We examined whether this genetic variation is associated with host lipids and treatment response.

METHODS

A total of 101 Japanese patients who had underwent liver biopsy before treatment with pegIFN and ribavirin for HCV genotype 1b infection were retrospectively analyzed for association between genotypes (rs8099917) and clinical factors including histopathological features of the liver. The presence of >5% steatosis in the liver specimen was defined as hepatic steatosis.

RESULTS

Forty patients (40%) had liver steatosis before therapy. Patients with minor genotype (non-TT) showed lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level (p=0.0045), higher γ-glutamyl transpeptidase level (p=0.0003) and higher prevalence of hepatic steatosis (p=0.0002). Advanced fibrosis [odds ratio (OR) 4.63, p=0.03] and major genotype (OR 0.13, p=0.001) were 2 independent factors for determining the presence of hepatic steatosis. Among the factors associated with sustained virological response, genotype was the most significant predictor, as per multivariate analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results confirmed that genotype is associated with hepatic steatosis as well as IFN response.