IL28B SNP genotyping among Iranian HCV-infected patients: A preliminary report

At the beginning of the third millennium, Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection continues to be a major health hazard, with 170 million chronically infected people worldwide (1). Recent research has found that the prevalence of HCV infection in Iran is 1% and 0.1% in males and females, respectively (2). Although a combination of pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin (RBV) has been established as a standard anti-HCV therapy, treatment responses vary. Numerous factors, including gender, age, HCV RNA level prior to treatment, liver cirrhosis, and HCV genotypes have been determined to contribute to this discrepancy (1). In addition, a number of recently published, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have shown that polymorphisms within the IL28B locus result in differences between patients' responses to anti-HCV treatment (3-6). In this regard, rs8099917 (8 kb upstream of the IL28B gene) and rs12979860 (3 kb upstream of the IL28B gene) have been identified as relevant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that significantly impact treatment response to HCV infection (7). Although both SNPs are known to be independent predictors of response to anti-HCV therapy, a recent, extensive meta-analysis has reported that rs12979860 is more closely related to treatment responses (8). The prevalence of these SNPs and the rate of sustained viral response (SVR) have been found to vary across Caucasian, African American, and Japanese ethnicities (1). Based on these important findings, this preliminary report presents data on IL28B SNP (rs12979860) in a group of Iranian HCV-infected patients. To our knowledge, this is the first such report published from this region, and we hope that the results will stimulate extensive research. In this study, 68 HCV-infected patients were referred to and enrolled in 2009 at the Tehran Hepatitis Center, a primary referral hepatitis center in Iran. Of these patients, 46 (67.6%) were male and 22 (32.4%) were female, with a Mean ± SD age of 44.57 ± 13.67 years (ranging from 10 to 75 years). Whole blood (2-ml samples) in EDTA tubes was collected from these patients for genotyping analysis. DNA was extracted from 200 µl of whole blood using a pure gene Blood Core C kit