Meta‐analysis: the impact of IL28B polymorphisms on rapid and sustained virological response in HCV‐2 and ‐3 patients

Abstract

Recent studies suggested that IL28B polymorphisms may affect rapid and sustained virological response rates in HCV patients infected with genotype 2 or 3. To assess the role of IL28B polymorphisms on the virological response in HCV-2 and -3 patients. We performed meta-analysis of studies evaluating the impact of rs12979860 and rs8099917 polymorphisms on rapid and sustained virological response in HCV-2 or -3 patients. Twenty-three studies involving 3042 patients were included. The first meta-analysis evaluated the impact of rs12979860 polymorphism and included 1963 patients. When compared with rs12979860 CT/TT patients, CC patients had a higher rapid virological response rate (mean difference: 12.9%, 95% CI: 6.5-19.4%, P<0.001) and a higher sustained virological response rate (mean difference: 4.9%, 95% CI: 0.1-9.8%, P=0.046). The second meta-analysis evaluated the impact of rs8099917 polymorphism and included 2246 patients. When compared with rs8099917 TG/GG patients, TT patients had a higher rapid virological response rate (mean difference: 14.8%, 95% CI: 7.2-22.4%, P<0.001) and a higher sustained virological response rate (mean difference: 5.5%, 95% CI: 0.4-10.6%, P=0.033). When considering only patients treated for 24weeks, results were unchanged. No potential sources of between-study heterogeneity were identified. Favourable IL28B polymorphisms are associated with higher rapid and sustained virological response rates in HCV-2 and -3 patients. However, as the impact on a sustained response is very limited, it is unlikely that IL28B polymorphisms provide additional predictive value when considering other predictors of a sustained response.