Abstract
In order to examine whether variation in interleukin-10 promoter polymorphism would predict the likelihood of sustain response of chronic hepatitis B to treatment with interferon alfa (IFN-α), the inheritance of 3 biallelic polymorphisms in the IL-10 gene promoter in patients with 52 chronic hepatitis B were determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-bared techniques, restriction enzyme digestion or direct sequencing. The relationship to the outcome of antiviral therapy for chronic HBV infection was studied in 24 patients who had a virologically sustained response(SR) and in 28 non-responder(NR) to interferon alfa-2b and several IL-10 variants were more frequent among SR compared with NR. Carriage of the -592A allele, -592A/A genotype and -1082/-1819/-592 ATA haplotype was associated with SR. Our findings indicate that heterogeneity in the promoter region of the IL-10 gene has a role in determining the initial response of chronic hepatitis B to IFN-α therapy.
Highlights
Hepatitis B is a worldwide disease and remains a significant etiology of chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, especially in several areas of Asia and Africa[1]
The majority of hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers as well as healthy volunteers had A allele at position -1082 and T allele at position -819 in the IL-10 gene promoter
Recent studies have shown that several immunoregulatory cytokines such as IFN-gand TNF-a inhibit HBV replication through the noncytolytic process[20]
Summary
Hepatitis B is a worldwide disease and remains a significant etiology of chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, especially in several areas of Asia and Africa[1]. It is estimated to affect over 350 million people worldwide, with a mortality of over 1.2 million deaths per year because of acute or chronic hepatitis B infection[2,3]. For active hepatitis B patients with detectable hepatitis B virus e antigen (HBeAg) or hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA and elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) serum levels, treatment is often recommended. Six-month course of interferon alfa (IFN-a) therapy has been shown to induce a long-term sustained remission in 25% to 40% of chronic hepatitis B patients[1,4,5]. The question remains unresolved as to why only a certain percentage of patients respond to therapy. Predictive factors determining therapeutic responses are focused by many investigations
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