Interferon Gamma Gene Polymorphism (+874 T > A) and Chronic Hepatitis B in the Population of Gorgan, North-Eastern Iran

BACKGROUND Based on differences in individual immune responses to the hepatitis B virus (HBV), between 5% and 10% of patients become persistently infected with the virus, which leads to the determination of chronic HBV. Cytokines such as interferon gamma (IFN-γ) are secretory proteins that play important roles in both innate and adaptive immune responses. Functional studies have demonstrated that the IFN + 874A/T gene polymorphism can increase or decrease the overall expression of IFN-gamma (γ) and ultimately determine the outcome of the infection. OBJECTIVES This study was performed to investigate the relationship between the IFN-γ + 874 gene polymorphism and susceptibility to chronic HBV infection. METHODS Polymorphism detection analysis was performed on 598 subjects from North-Eastern Iran. The IFN-γ gene polymorphism (+ 874A/T) was genotyped through a specific sequence primer polymerase chain reaction (SSP-PCR). RESULTS The frequencies of the AA, AT, and TT genotypes were 31%, 51%, and 18% in the chronic HBV patient group, and 40%, 45%, and 15% in the healthy control group, respectively. However, a lack of association of the + 874 polymorphism in the IFN-γ gene of those with chronic HBV infection was found. Evaluation of HBV association with this polymorphism was significant under the dominant genetic model (P = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS Ultimately, no association could be characterized between the polymorphism in IFN-γ + 874A/T and susceptibility to chronic HBV infection in this segment of the Iranian population (P > 0.05).