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Distribution of genetic polymorphisms associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) antiviral response in a multiethnic and admixed population

The Pharmacogenomics Journal volume 14, pages 549–554 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

The prevalence of genetic polymorphisms identified as predictors of therapeutic-induced hepatitis C virus (HCV) clearance differs among ethnic groups. However, there is a paucity of information about their prevalence in South American populations, whose genetic background is highly admixed. Hence, single-nucleotide polymorphisms rs12979860, rs1127354 and rs7270101 were characterized in 1350 healthy individuals, and ethnicity was assessed in 259 randomly selected samples. The frequency of rs12979860CC, associated to HCV treatment response, and rs1127354nonCC, related to protection against hemolytic anemia, were significantly higher among individuals with maternal and paternal Non-native American haplogroups (64.5% and 24.2%), intermediate among admixed samples (44.1% and 20.4%) and the lowest for individuals with Native American ancestry (30.4% and 6.5%). This is the first systematic study focused on analyzing HCV predictors of antiviral response and ethnicity in South American populations. The characterization of these variants is critical to evaluate the risk–benefit of antiviral treatment according to the patient ancestry in admixed populations.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the volunteers for their cooperation and also thank Tech. Noelia Bravo, Fiorella Caro, BSc and Ms Valeria Cabrera for technical assistance. Our work is supported by grants from ICBME, FUCIBA and Italian Hospital of Buenos Aires Research Bureau.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ciencias Básicas y Medicina Experimental (ICBME), Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    J Trinks, M L Hulaniuk & A Pontoriero

  2. National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    J Trinks, M Caputo, V Ré, D Corach & D Flichman

  3. Servicio de Huellas Digitales Genéticas, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    M Caputo & D Corach

  4. Servicio de Medicina Transfusional, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    L Burgos Pratx, L Fortuny & F Nuñez

  5. Instituto de Virología Dr José María Vanella, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina

    V Ré

  6. Servicio de Medicina Transfusional, Hospital Materno Infantil ‘Ramón Sardá’, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    A Frías & O Torres

  7. Servicio de Hepatología, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    A Gadano

  8. Cátedra de Virología, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    D Flichman

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Correspondence to J Trinks.

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Trinks, J., Hulaniuk, M., Caputo, M. et al. Distribution of genetic polymorphisms associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) antiviral response in a multiethnic and admixed population. Pharmacogenomics J 14, 549–554 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/tpj.2014.20

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