The Predictive Value of IL-28B Gene Polymorphism in Egyptian HCV Patients Response to Combination Therapy of Pegylated Interferon and Ribavirin.

Abstract

HCV is the major etiological agent of liver disease worldwide. IL-28 is a cytokine that plays a role in immune defense against viruses. It has been demonstrated that polymorphism in and near the region of the IL-28B gene locus of chromosome 19 are correlated with spontaneous and treatment induced clearance of hepatitis C virus infection. Therefore, we conducted this study on fifty HCV-infected patients to evaluate the effect of IL-28-B polymorphism on response to combination therapy (pegylated interferon and ribavirin). The study participants were 44 males (88%) with mean age 45.6 ± 9.8 years and 6 females (12%) with mean age 49.3 ± 7.2 years. They received combination therapy (pegylated interferon and ribavirin) based on the degree of fibrosis. When we compared between HCV patients’ subgroups subdivided according to the presence or absence of C and T alleles, a statistical significant difference was found between the patients carrying comparing to those lacking C allele as regards AST after 24 weeks (p=0.04) and 48 weeks (p=0.01) of combination therapy and direct bilirubin (p=0.01). Also, we detected a statistical significant difference between the patients carrying comparing to those lacking T allele regarding AST (p<0.001) at the study entry, ALT at the study entry (p<0.001) and after 12 weeks of combination therapy (p=0.04) and TSH (p=0.04).