IL28B SNPs rs12979860 and rs8099917 Are Associated with Inflammatory Response in Argentine Chronic HCV Patients

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of chronic liver disease, including cirrhosis and liver cancer. The aim of our study was to determine whether IL28B single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs12979860 and rs8099917 can be considered a prognostic host factor in untreated chronic HCV patients. Methods: We set up a real-time Allele Specific PCR amplification to determine the allele present in each polymorphic site, and statistically grouped and compared this result with clinical data. Results: We determined rs12979860 and rs8099917 genotype and allele frequencies in a single cohort of untreated chronically HCV-infected patients. We found significant associations between higher inflammatory activity, measured as ALT levels or METAVIR scores and rs12979860 CC (P = 0.0013 and P = 0.0033, respectively) and rs8099917 TT (P = 0.0005 and P = 0.0264, respectively) genotypes. Interestingly, considering both genotypes together, we also found association with ALT levels (P = 0.0003; OR = 5.125) or METAVIR scores (P = 0.0038; OR = 5.179), suggesting and additive effect on liver inflammation in these patients. Conclusion: we show association between hepatic inflammatory activity in a single Argentinean untreated chronically HCV cohort and SNPs located in the interferon lambda gene region. The studied polymorphisms, together with further innate and adaptive immune responses, clearly play a role in modulating the HCV infected patients outcome, contributing to hepatic inflammation and possible fibrosis/cirrhosis.