Editorial: IL-28B polymorphism and response to anti-hepatitis C therapy

Current standard of care for hepatitis c infection is treatment with interferon and ribavirin, recent genomewide association studies (gwas) have shown that a genetic polymorphism at rs12979860 near il28 gene on chromosome 19, encoding interferon-lambda-3, is associated with variable responses to the drugs. cc genotype of il-28b is associated with two to three fold increases in sustained virologic response (svr) as compared with either ct or tt genotype. these landmark studies have opened a new chapter in the field of host-viral interactions.