Role of interleukin 28B rs12979860 C/T polymorphism on the histological outcome of chronic hepatitis C: Relationship with gender and viral genotype

Edmondo Falleti, Davide Bitetto, Carlo Fabris, Annarosa Cussigh, Ezio Fornasiere, Sara Cmet, Elisa Fumolo, Sara Bignulin, Elisabetta Fontanini, Andrea Cerutti, Rosalba Minisini, Mario Pirisi, Pierluigi Toniutto

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

72 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background This study aimed to determine whether the single-nucleotide polymorphism (rs12979860 C/T) of the interleukin 28B (IL-28B) gene, which is associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) clearance, is also associated with fibrosis in chronic HCV infection. Methods An RFLP-PCR technique was used to genotype 629 HCV-positive patients (200 with cirrhosis) and 428 healthy control subjects. Results The genotype frequencies in the controls and chronic hepatitis C patients were as follows: C/C 47.0% vs. 32.6%, C/T 41.8% vs. 52.8% and T/T 11.2% vs. 14.6% (p<0.0001). The C allele frequency was higher in HCV-2- (0.635) and 3- (0.692) infected patients in comparison to those infected with HCV-1 (0.550) or 4-5 (0.600) (p<0.001). Infected T/T homozygotes had a mean staging score higher than other patients (3.50 vs. 3.04, p<0.05). Conclusions IL-28B rs12979860 C/T polymorphism is associated with a greater likelihood of HCV persistence, particularly in HCV genotypes 1 and 4. The T allele affects the severity of liver fibrosis.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)891-899
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Clinical Immunology
Volume31
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Interleukin 28B polymorphism
  • gender
  • hepatitis C virus
  • liver fibrosis
  • viral genotypes

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