Prevalence and clinical implications of IL28B genotypes in Taiwanese patients with chronic hepatitis C.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Clinical implications of IL28B gene in Taiwanese chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients remain unknown. We thus investigated the prevalence and clinical implications of IL28B rs8099917 genotypes in CHC patients with different hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes and healthy controls.

METHODS

A total of 200 HCV genotype 1 patients and 200 HCV genotype 2 patients who received liver biopsy, as well as 197 healthy controls were enrolled to determine the frequencies of IL28B rs8099917 genotypes. In addition, the association of IL28B rs8099917 genotype with baseline data, including HCV RNA level, HCV genotype, histological activity grade, fibrosis stage, and body mass index, were evaluated and further stratified by covariant factors.

RESULTS

Compared with healthy controls, CHC patients had a lower prevalence rate of favorable IL28B rs8099917 TT genotype (81.0% vs. 89.3%, p = 0.025). In addition, the prevalence rates of favorable TT genotype in patients with HCV genotypes 1 and 2 were 76.0% and 86.0%, respectively (p = 0.007). Using ordered logistic regression analysis, higher fibrosis stages were found to be associated with a lower prevalence of TT genotype (p = 0.033), but not histological activity grades (p = 0.748). The association with fibrosis stages was more pronounced in female patients (p = 0.024).

CONCLUSION

In Taiwan, CHC patients have a lower frequency of favorable IL28B TT genotype than healthy controls. Among patients with CHC, the frequency of TT genotype is higher in HCV genotype 2 patients than in HCV genotype 1 patients. In addition, CHC patients with TT genotype, particularly females, have a lower likelihood of advanced fibrosis.