The interferon lambda 4 rs368234815 predicts treatment response to pegylated-interferon alpha and ribavirin in hemophilic patients with chronic hepatitis C

Background: a dinucleotide variant rs368234815 in interferon lambda 4 (ifnl4) gene was recently found to be associated with the hepatitis c virus (hcv) treatment response. this study aimed to assess the impact of ifnl4 rs368234815 polymorphism on treatment response to pegylated-ifn alpha (peg-ifn-α) and ribavirin (rbv) in hemophilic patients with chronic hepatitis c (chc). materials and methods: in this retrospective study,92 hemophilic patients with chc who were treated with peg-ifn-α/rbv were investigated. single-nucleotide polymorphisms (snps) in ifnl genomic region including rs368234815,rs12979860,and rs8099917 were analyzed by dna sequencing. results: of the 92 patients,63 (68.5%) achieved sustained virological response (svr). of the 43 patients with rs368234815 tt/tt genotype,36 (83.7%) achieved svr,while in 49 patients with non-tt/tt genotypes,27 (55.1%) achieved svr. other pretreatment parameters predicted svr were patients’ body mass index,hcv genotype,rs12979860,and rs8099917 snps. in multivariate analysis,all above-mentioned parameters except rs8099917 remained as predictors of svr. ifnl4 rs368234815 was a strong predictor of svr; however,the prediction power of this snp was the same as that of rs12979860 snp in the patients of the current study. conclusion: ifnl4 rs368234815 snp can be considered for decision-making in the treatment of hcv-infected patients. � 2016 journal of research in medical sciences.