Association between gene polymorphisms of IL-28 and response to lamivudine in Chinese rural patients with chronic hepatitis B

Abstract

Objective. To assess the association between gene polymorphisms (single nucleotide polymorphisms [SNPs]) of rs8099917 and rs12980602 in the IL-28 gene and the response to lamivudine treatment in naïve of Chinese rural patients. Material and methods. Three hundred and fifty-four naïve chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients treated with lamivudine were enrolled in this study. Rs8099917 and rs12980602 SNPs were genotyped using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry. Baseline characteristics and genotypes were compared between 181 patients with treatment response and 173 without response. Results. The IL-28 genotypes were independently associated with responses at 1 year post-treatment with lamivudine in CHB patients (OR for rs8099917 GT/GG vs. TT, 4.097 [95% CI, 1.342–12.512; p = 0.015]; OR for rs12980602CT/CC vs. TT, 2.27 [95% CI, 1.202–4.284; p =0.014]). When adjusting for age, gender, smoking, drinking, and levels of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA, alanine aminotransferase, and HBV genotype, the rs8099917 genotype GT (OR, 4.025 [95% CI, 1.316–12.354; p = 0.013] and fibrosis stage (OR, 0.716 [95% CI, 0.432–0.986; p = 0.036] appeared to be associated with a higher probability of response to lamivudine treatment. Conclusion. The genotype G/T for rs8099917 of IL-28 gene and early fibrosis stage may be predictive of treatment success.

Key Words::

• chronic hepatitis B
• gene polymorphism
• IL-28
• lamivudine
• response

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30972516), and the Health Department of Hebei Province (Nos. 20110086 and 20090004). In this study, Fengxue Yu, Yanping Wang, Junji Ma, Ning Ma, and Xuehui Liu performed the research, Fengxue Yu, Xiaolin Zhang, and Shang Yuan collected and analyzed the data, and Fengxue Yu and Dianwu Liu designed the research study and wrote the paper.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.