Impact of Genetic Polymorphisms of Four Cytokines Genes on Treatment Induced Viral Clearance in HCV Infected Egyptian Patients

1.1.Background and objective:Many factors contribute for viral clearance and response to antiviral therapy. Genetic polymorphisms of cytokines, chemokines and their receptors can alter the immune response against Hepatitis C virus (HCV). The aim of the current study is to assess single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the promoter region of IL-10, TNF-α, INF-γ and TGF-β as predictors of response to combined Peg/INF-RBV therapy in chronic HCV infected Egyptian patients. 1.2.Design and methods:The study was conducted on 150 HCV infected patients and 100 apparently healthy control subjects. All patients were treated with pegylated interferon α/Ribavirin (PEG/RBV). They were classified according to their response to treatment. Genotyping of IL-10, TNF-α, INF-γ and TGF-β were performed on peripheral blood DNA using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment- length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and primer specific assays. 1.3.Results:Overall, 83/150 (55.3%) patients achieved SVR, whereas 67(44.7%) did not. Age and BMI were significantly lower in patients who achieved SVR (p<0.05). IL-10 at site (-1082) GG genotype was associated with SVR where odds ratio was1.95 with 95% confidence interval (0.87-4.36). None of the other genes showed a significant association with SVR. 1.4.Conclusion:Analysis of IL-10 SNP at promoter site (-1082) could be used as a pre treatment predictor of response to combined PEG-IFN/RBV treatment.