The Role of Polymorphisms Near the IL28B Gene on Response to Peg-Interferon and Ribavirin in Thalassemic Patients With Hepatitis C

Background: hepatitis c virus (hcv) is the major cause of liver failure in thalassemic patients. in these patients, iron overload and their comorbidities make difficulties during pegylated-interferon (peg-ifn) and ribavirin (rbv) therapy. objectives: we aimed to assess the impact of polymorphisms near the il28b gene on virological response in hcv - infected thalassemic patients, who were treated with peg-ifn and rbv. patients and methods: this cross - sectional study was conducted on 143 thalassemic patients with chronic hepatitis c, who were treated with a combination of peg-ifn and rbv regimen. the rs12979860 and rs8099917 polymorphisms were assessed as the most common polymorphisms near the il28b gene by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (pcr-rflp) method. results: the rate of sustained virological response (svr) was significantly lower in thalassemic patients with hcv genotype-1 infection compared to patients with hcv genotype-3 infection. among baseline predictors, rs12979860 and rs8099917 polymorphisms were found to be the only parameters associated with achievement of svr in thalassemic patients with hcv genotype-1 infection however, there was no association between these polymorphisms and the rate of svr in thalassemic patients with hcv genotype-3 infection. conclusions: in hcv genotype-1- infected thalassemic patients with rs12979860 cc genotype and without severe comorbidities, peg-ifn and rbv combination therapy can be tried yet in those with rs12979860 ct/tt it may be reasonable to treat cases with new direct-acting antivirals.