Effect of HLA-DP and IL28B gene polymorphisms on response to interferon treatment in hepatitis B e-antigen seropositive chronic hepatitis B patients.

Abstract

AIM:

The reason why the majority of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients do not respond to conventional interferon (IFN)-α or pegylated interferon (PEG IFN) treatment has not been formally demonstrated. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and response to IFN-α or PEG IFN therapy in Chinese patients with CHB.

METHODS:

Four SNPs among the HLA-DPA1, HLA-DPB1 (rs3077 and rs9277535) and IL28B (rs12979860 and rs8099917) regions were genotyped using the MGB-TaqMan SNP genotyping assay in 144 hepatitis B e-antigen (HBeAg) seropositive CHB patients who had received 6-12 months IFN-α or PEG IFN treatment. Patients were classified as responders who achieved any of the four targets: (i) the loss of HBeAg; (ii) anti-HBe seroconversion; (iii) suppression of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA level to below 3 log of baseline; and (iv) alanine aminotransferase normalization.

RESULTS:

By multivariate analysis at 6 months of therapy and 6 months post-therapy, the results showed that rs3077-GG genotype was independently associated with higher HBeAg loss rate and anti-HBe seroconversion rate, and rs9277535-GG genotype was independently associated with decline of HBV DNA level. However, we did not observe the significant association between SNP near IL28B and the response to IFN-α or PEG IFN treatment.

CONCLUSION:

This study suggested that HLA-DPA1 and HLA-DPB1 variants were significantly associated with HBeAg loss, anti-HBe seroconversion and HBV DNA level suppression in HBeAg seropositive CHB patients who received IFN-α or PEG IFN treatment.

• Authors: Lin Cheng, Xiaowen Sun, Shun Tan, Wenting Tan, Yunjie Dan, Yi Zhou, Qing Mao, Guohong Deng
• Journal: Hepatology research : the official journal of the Japan Society of Hepatology (Hepatol Res) Vol. 44 Issue 9 Pg. 1000-7 (Sep 2014) ISSN: 1386-6346 [Print] Netherlands
• PMID: 24298935 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: © 2013 The Japan Society of Hepatology.