Abstract
Cytokine polymorphisms are associated with disease outcome and interferon (IFN) treatment response in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. We genotyped eight SNPs spanning the entire IFN-γ gene in two cohorts and assessed the association between those polymorphisms and treatment response or spontaneous viral clearance. The first cohort was composed of 284 chronically HCV-infected patients who had received IFN-α-based therapy and the second was 251 i.v. drug users who had either spontaneously cleared HCV or become chronically infected. A SNP variant located in the proximal IFN-γ promoter region next to the binding motif of heat shock transcription factor (HSF), -764G, was significantly associated with sustained virological response [P = 0.04, odds ratio (OR) = 3.51 (confidence interval 1.0-12.5)]. The association was independently significant in multiple logistic regression (P = 0.04) along with race, viral titer, and genotype. This variant was also significantly associated with spontaneous recovery [P = 0.04, OR = 3.51 (1.0-12.5)] in the second cohort. Functional analyses show that the G allele confers a two- to three-fold higher promoter activity and stronger binding affinity to HSF1 than the C allele. Our study suggests that the IFN-γ promoter SNP -764G/C is functionally important in determining viral clearance and treatment response in HCV-infected patients and may be used as a genetic marker to predict sustained virological response in HCV-infected patients.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 985-990 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Volume | 104 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 16 2007 |
Keywords
- Antiviral treatment
- Cytokine
- Genetics
- Human study
- Viral clearance
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General