Factors Affecting the Response to Interferon Alpha Therapy in Egyptian HCV Patients

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection is one of the main causes of chronic liver disease worldwide. Egypt has the highest prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) in the world, estimated nationally at 14.7%. knowledge of the predictors of Sustained Viral Response (SVR) to Pegylated Interferon (PEG-INF) and Ribavirin (RBV) therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C is crucial for selecting patients who would benefit most from therapy especially in developing country as Egypt where the highest percentage of treatment cost funded by government. This study was performed on Egyptian patients with chronic active hepatitis C who were prepared for receiving a course of treatment with: Interferon (PEG IFN) and ribavirin for 48 weeks. We aimed to find more predictive markers those can help clinicians to choose the most effective treatment program for each patient. Assessment of HLA-DRB1, HLA-DQB1 genes by Sequence Specific Primer (SSP) PCR, interleukin-10 (IL-10) by ELISA technique and Serum HCV RNA load by TaqMan Real Time RT-PCR technology were done. We found that sustained responders were significantly among DRB1*13 allele and DQB1*02 typing (p<0.001). DRB1*07 allele only appeared with responded patients. Relations were found between response to treatment and lower IL-10 level and lower Body Mass Index (BMI) but not sufficient to reach to significant value. In conclusion, we emphasize the importance of the use of pharmacogenomic data in the treatment of patients. HLA-DRB1*07, HLA-DRB1*13 and HLA-DQ02 alleles can predict the response to HCV combined therapy. The data generated from our study may be helpful in future for clinicians to predict the treatment outcome for HCV-seropositive individuals in Egypt.