Assessment of Interleukin-28B Polymorphism and Interferon γ-Inducible Protein 10 Level in Treatment Response Prediction of Hepatitis C Egyptian Patients

Abstract

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) causes viral hepatitis infection that is a major global health issue. It is estimated that more than 80 million people are chronically infected worldwide, with 3–4 million new infections and 350 000 deaths, occurring each year as a result of complications related to HCV infection. HCV genotype ¬4 dominates the HCV epidemic in Egypt. The prevalence of HCV infection in Egypt among those aged 15-59 years HCV antibody represents 10.0% and HCV RNA 7.0%. The combined therapy of pegylated interferon alpha and ribavirin (PEG-IFNα/RBV) was represented as the standard of care in chronic HCV. Unfortunately, this therapy is expensive and the prolonged PEG-IFNα/RBV therapy often associated with serious side effects. Drug resistance was the most serious side effect that reflects bad clinical outcome that led to increase the need to identify accurate predictors of treatment outcome to facilitate treatment decision making.