Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Of The IL28B And Sustained Virologic Response Of Chronic Hepatitis C Patients With Peg-Interferon/Ribavirin Therapy: A Meta-Analysis

BackgroundHepatitis C is a global health problem and represents a major cause of liver disease and socioeconomic burden. Effective antiviral therapy may prevent these complications, but the current treatment for patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection does not produce sustained virologic response (SVR) in all patients treated. Therefore, identification of the determinants of response to treatment is a high priority. A number of host and viral factors have been associated with treatment outcomes.ObjectivesAssess the associations of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of the IL28B and sustained virologic response (SVR) of chronic hepatitis C patients with PEG-interferon/Ribavirin therapy.Materials and MethodsWe searched PubMed,Medline and Cochrane Library, and found 7 eligible papers involved in this study. Then we performed a meta-analysis comparing the SVR rate at SNP of the IL28B in individuals with PEG-interferon/Ribaviron therapy, meanwhile, the SVR rate between different races and different HCV genotypes.ResultsThe sustained virologic response rate was higher in patients with the rs12979860 CC and rs8099917 TT alleles in the IL28B SNP, comparing with the rs12979860 CT or rs12979860 TT and rs8099917 TG or rs8099917 GG genotype. Furthermore, a higher SVR was observed in the Caucasians than in Afro-Americans (OR=3.85, 95%CI=3.06, 4.83, P < 0.00001); the percentage of rs12979860 TT genotype was lower in Caucasians (OR=0.25, 95%CI=0.20, 0.31, P < 0.00001) and the percentage of rs12979860 CC genotype was higher in Caucasians than that of Afro-Americans (OR=3.45, 95%CI=2.68, 4.44, P < 0.00001). Between different HCV genotypes, the SVR was much lower in those with HCV genotype 1 than those with genotype 2/3 (OR=0.16, 95%CI=0.11, 0.24, P < 0.00001). When P<0.05, the difference is significant.ConclusionsIL28B is significantly associated with response to Peg-IFN/RBV therapy for patients with chronic HCV infection. Both the rs12979860 and rs8099917 could used to be an independent predictor of the treatment response. The rs12979860, in particular, is more important from our study. The polymorphism even explains part the difference in response between different ethnicity and HCV genotype.