Ghrelin gene polymorphism as a novel genetic biomarker for prediction of therapy induced clearance in Egyptian chronic HCV patients

Abstract

HCV is the major etiological agent of liver disease worldwide. Ghrelin (GHRL) has important implications for liver disease. It has anti-inflammatory effects, regulates cell proliferation, modulates the fibrogenic response and protects liver tissue. Genetic variations in the GHRL gene may play a crucial role in the development of chronic hepatitis (CH), liver cirrhosis (LC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Therefore, we investigated whether GHRL gene polymorphisms (rs26312 and rs27647), that have been linked to liver diseases, and its serum levels are associated with virologic responses to combined sofosbuvir and Simeprevir therapy for a course of 12 successive weeks in Egyptian chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients. Human genomic and clinical data were collected from 100 Egyptian participants in this study, 90 HCV patients who received sofosbuvir and Simeprevir and 10 non-HCV healthy subjects. Genotyping of GHRL rs26312 and rs27647, were determined with the TaqMan qRT-PCR allele detection assay. The serum GHRL concentrations were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). GHRL polymorphisms (rs26312 and rs27647) genotype distributions and allele frequencies did not differ between