The Role of Interleukin-28b Gene Polymorphisms in Chinese Patients With Chronic Hepatitis C Treated With Pegylated Interferon and Ribavirin

BACKGROUND Interleukin-28B (IL28B) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs8099917 has been described to be associated with response to treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin (PEG-IFN/RBV) in patients with chronic hepatitis C from the North America, Europe, Asia countries like Japan and Taiwan. Whether this holds true for Chinese patients remains unknown. OBJECTIVES We aimed to study the effects of IL28B rs8099917 on antiviral therapy responses in Chinese patients with hepatitis C. PATIENTS AND METHODS IL28B rs8099917 was genotyped in 263 patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and 244 healthy controls in Tianjin, China using TaqMan SNP genotyping method. The roles of rs8099917 and clinical characteristics in antiviral treatment were analyzed by logistic regression. RESULTS Among 263 patients with chronic HCV infection, 223 had a TT genotype (84.8%). Frequencies of TG/GG genotypes in patients with hepatitis C were significantly different from those of healthy controls (15.2% vs. 9.0%; P = 0.033). Patients with HCV infection had a higher G allele frequency than healthy controls (7.8% vs. 4.7%; P = 0.044). Univariate analysis revealed no significant association between rs8099917 and sustained virological response (SVR) (P = 0.612). However, it was found that HCV genotypes 2a/3a, age, prothrombin time (PT), albumin (ALB) and cholesterol (CHO) were associated with SVR. In multivariate analysis, only ALB was significantly an independent predictor of SVR (OR = 1.223; 95%CI: 1.046-1.430; P = 0.011). CONCLUSIONS In contrast with T, rs8099917 G is a susceptible allele to HCV in China. ALB can independently predict SVR. Rs8099917 may play a quiet role to predict treatment response of patients with hepatitis C who received PEG-IFN/RBV therapy in China.