RESUMO
AIM: Chronic Hepatitis C infection is a critical health problem worldwide, which caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV). Interleukin 28B (IL28B) is a determinant factor in disease progression and also susceptibility to chronic HCV infection. BACKGROUND: The most significant aim of this study is to analyze the association between IL28B gene polymorphisms with susceptibility to chronic HCV infection in Iranian population. METHODS: This study follows a case- control study design, in which, 288 patients with chronic hepatitis C and 250 healthy individuals were genotyped for IL28B polymorphisms (rs12979860 C/T and rs8099917 G/T). Studied population collected from Taleghani Haospital, Tehran. Genotyping of IL28B gene polymorphisms were performed using PCR-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. 10 percent of the studied population was sequenced to validate the results. RESULTS: rs8099917 G/T and rs12979860 C/T were differently distributed in hepatitis C patients and healthy controls in the female gender. TT, TG and GG genotypes distribution in the female gender were 56.7%, 39.8% and 4.5% in cases and 67%, 31.6% and 1.4% in controls (p=0.54). Also CC, CT and TT genotypes distribution were 31.8%, 61.4% and 6.8% in cases and 51.7%, 44.9% and 3.4% in controls (p=0.2). However, there was no significant difference in the allelic frequency and genotype distribution of rs12979860 C/T and rs8099917 T/G in both HCV patients with genotype 1a and 3a. CONCLUSION: It seems that rs8099917 G/T polymorphism plays a significant role in susceptibility to chronic HCV infection in Iranian population. On the other hand, no association was found between rs12979860 C/T polymorphisms and chronic hepatitis C.