Host genetic variations are associated with virological response to interferon therapy of chronic HCV in Han Chinese patients

Previous studies have suggested that host genetic polymorphisms may affect virological response to pegylated-interferon and ribavirin (PEG-IFN/ ribavirin) therapy in chronic HCV infection. IL28B and MxA are the most intensively studied genes in Chinese Han population. The current research is to summarize published data and evaluate the overall association of meaningful SNPs in these two genes with virological response to interferon-based therapy. Literature search was performed in online database and a systematic review was conducted based on the search results. Meaningful single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were summarized and analyzed for odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Data manipulation and statistical analyses were performed by using STATA 12.0 and Review Manager version 5.1. Eighteen papers were included for final data analysis. Three SNPs of IL28B and two SNPs of MxA were found to be associated with higher sustained virological response (SVR) to interferon therapy. The ORs and 95% CIs of each variant were: IL28B rs8099917 TT (OR: 4.35, 95% CI: 3.10∼6.12), IL28B rs12979860 CC (OR: 5.37, 95% CI: 3.95∼7.31), IL28B rs7248668 CC (OR: 3.50, 95% CI: 2.30∼5.35), MxA rs2071430 GT (OR: 2.03, 95% CI: 1.31∼3.13), and MxA rs17000900 AC/AA (OR: 1.82, 95% CI: 1.17∼2.83). The genotypes of IL28B rs8099917, rs12979860, rs7248668, MxA rs2071430, and MxA rs17000900 were strong SVR predictors for PEG-IFN/ ribavirin -treated HCV patients in Han Chinese population. Our findings suggest that host genetic variations are associated with virological response to interferon therapy of chronic HCV in Han Chinese patients.