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Polymorphisms in EGFR and IL28B are associated with spontaneous clearance in an HCV-infected iranian population

Genes & Immunity volume 16, pages 514–518 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Although most hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected individuals develop chronic infection, about 25% of them are able to clear the virus spontaneously without any therapeutic intervention. The aim of the present study was to identify genes associated with spontaneous HCV clearance in a population of Iranian patients. We genotyped 110 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 59 selected—candidate—genes in a cohort of 107 HCV-infected participants who spontaneously cleared the infection and 176 participants whose infection persisted. Three out of the 110 SNPs were found to be associated with HCV outcome (P-values<0.03). rs11506105 in EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor gene), and rs11881222 and rs12979860 in IL28B (interferon-λ3 gene). Multivariate logistic regression of the three markers showed that the A/A genotypes in both rs11506105 (EFGR) and rs11881222 (IL28B), and the C/C genotype in rs12979860 (IL28B) are associated with HCV clearance (recessive model: odds ratio (OR)=2.06, 95% confidence interval (95% CI)=1.09–3.88, P=0.025; OR=2.09, 95% CI=1.23–3.60, P=0.007; and OR=1.95, 95% CI=1.15–3.35, P=0.014 for rs11506105, rs12979860 and rs11881222, respectively). In conclusion, EGFR and IL28B SNPs are strong independent predictive markers of spontaneous viral clearance.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by funds from the Strasbourg High Throughput Next Generation Sequencing facility (GENOMAX), INSERM UMR_S 1109 and Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Programme Blanc ANR-07-BLAN-0108 entitled GENHEPC and Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD). Our laboratory was further supported by the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), the Partenariat Hubert Curien GUNDISHAPUR by the ministères des Affaires étrangères et du développement international (MAEDI) and Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche (MESR), the Institut de Recherche pour le développement (IRD) and the Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). This work was additionally supported by Tehran University of Medical Sciences and in part by the intramural research program of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute.

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Author notes

  1. R Carapito and H Poustchi: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plateforme GENOMAX, Laboratoire d’ImmunoRhumatologie Moléculaire, INSERM UMR_S1109, LabEx Transplantex, Centre de Recherche d’Immunologie et d’Hématologie, Faculté de Médecine, Fédération Hospitalo-Universitaire (FHU) OMICARE, Fédération de Médecine Translationnelle de Strasbourg (FMTS), Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

    R Carapito, M Kwemou, M Untrau, S Michel, J Toussaint, M Le Gentil, M Radosavljevic, P Georgel & S Bahram

  2. Liver and Pancreatobiliary Diseases Research Center, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    H Poustchi, A H Sharifi, S Merat, A Haj-sheykholeslami, H Jabbari, S Esmaili, A Etemadi & R Malekzadeh

  3. Digestive Disease Research Center, Digestive Disease Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences Shariati Hospital, Tehran, Iran

    S Merat & R Malekzadeh

  4. Health Promotion Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Science, Zahedan, Iran

    A Ansari-Moghaddam

  5. Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

    A Etemadi

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  1. R Carapito
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Correspondence to R Malekzadeh or S Bahram.

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Carapito, R., Poustchi, H., Kwemou, M. et al. Polymorphisms in EGFR and IL28B are associated with spontaneous clearance in an HCV-infected iranian population. Genes Immun 16, 514–518 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/gene.2015.38

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