Survey on the Association of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism rs10853725 in the Promoter Region IL-28B Gene in Iranian Patients with Hepatitis C Treated with Peg Interferon alfa and Ribavirin

Genetic factors greatly impact the response to treatment in patients. Recent studies on rs10853728 single nucleotide polymorphisms in the promoter area, determined the IL-28B gene as a host factor affecting the treatment of hepatitis C infection. The aim of this study was to evaluate this polymorphism among Iranian patients
This cross-sectional study was performed on 53 blood samples of patients with hepatitis C (49 patients were sensitive and 4 patients resistant to treatment) and 30 healthy controls. After DNA extraction from buffy coat samples, the frequency of polymorphisms was determined. Finally, the PCR products were detected on agarose gel electrophoresis. For statistical analysis of the data, the chi-square method was used.
About 30 healthy controls (negative for HCV Ab ELISA test) participated in this survey. Of the 53 patients tested, none of them were homozygous CC (Wild Type) and only 2 (%3.8) were homozygous GG, one of which was sensitive to treatment. Of the 51 remaining patients, 48 (%96.2) were heterozygous CG and sensitive to treatment with peg interferon and ribavirin while 3 of the patients were resistant to treatment.
Statistical analysis showed that patients with the G allele had significantly higher sustained viralogic response (SVR) rate than those with the C allele. This data suggest that genotype detection of rs10853728 single nucleotide polymorphism may be useful as an important predictive biomarker for SVR in patients infected with HCV. However, further studies with more samples will lead to more valid results.