Abstract
A single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the interleukin (IL)-28B gene was used as a major predictor of the response to treatment in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Data examining the role of IL-10 and IL-18 gene polymorphisms among HCV genotype 4 (G4)-infected Egyptians in response to pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) plus ribavirin (RBV) therapy are limited. This study investigated the impact of SNP at IL-10.rs1800896 (at position -1082) and IL-18.rs1946518 genes (at position -607) on the response to PEG-IFN/RBV therapy in HCV-infected Egyptians. This study was carried out on 100 HCV patients treated with PEG-IFN plus RBV and 100 healthy controls. The HCV patients included 50 treatment non-responders (NR) and 50 subjects with sustained virologic response (SVR). Genomic DNA from venous blood of subjects was extracted and IL-10.rs1800896 and IL-18.rs1946518 genotypes were determined using allele-specific amplification and SYBR Green real-time PCR. Linkage disequilibrium between the two SNPs was estimated using Haploview software. The frequency of the IL-10.rs1800896 AA, AG and GG genotypes among non-responders were 16 %, 70 % and 14 % while among SVR subjects, the frequency was 34 %, 60 % and 6 %, respectively (p=0.073). On the other hand, the frequency of the IL-18.rs1946518 AA, AC and CC genotypes among non-responders was 14 %, 50 % and 36 %, respectively, while among responders, these frequencies were 28 %, 44 % and 28 %, (p = 0.220). Both markers were in linkage equilibrium (D' = 0.23; r (2) = 0.052). SNPs in the IL-10.rs1800896 and IL-18.rs1946518 genes could not predict the outcome of HCV infection in Egyptians treated with PEG-IFN/RBV.