Distribution of polymorphisms rs12979860, rs8099917 and rs12980275 IL28B in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Background: The prognosis concerning the treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) is closely related to the genotype of the virus as well as to the factors dependent on the patient. It was proved that polymorphisms of the gene encoding interleukin 28B (IL28B) are associated with sustained viral response, which in the case of profitable variants of IL28B polymorphisms may reach up to 87% of the patients.
Objectives: The aim of the study is to determine the prevalence of alleles and distribution of IL28B polymorphisms genotypes in the examined group of patients with CHC in Wielkopolska Province.
Material and Methods: A total of 710 people with diagnosed hepatitis C virus were examined in order to determine the distribution of polymorphisms of gene IL28B rs12979860, rs8099917 and rs12980275. The polymorphisms were evaluated by sequencing of PCR products.
Results: The most often noted profitable variant was genotype TT for polymorphism rs8099917 present in 43.5% of the patients, next was AA rs12980275 in 22.5%. The rarest was the profitable variant CC of the polymorphism rs12979860 present in 17.5% of the patients. An occurrence of at least 2 IL28B polymorphisms in the preferred variants (homozygote CC, TT, AA) was found in 239 out of 710 (34%) patients, among which 117 patients had favorable genotypes for all 3 examined polymorphisms.
Conclusions: The SNP distribution of gene IL28 with fixed prognostic value in the population of patients with chronic hepatitis C is different from the general population, and shows the need to evaluate polymorphisms prior to treatment.