RANTES gene single nucleotide polymorphisms and expression in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection.
BACKGROUND
Regulated on activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) plays a critical role in T-lymphocyte activation and proliferation. The process is involved in both acute and chronic phases of inflammation. The present study was to ascertain the possible correlations between chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and the RANTES gene polymorphisms and their expression.


METHODS
The study included 130 HBV negative healthy donors and 152 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) virus infection. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) were used to detect RANTES gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). RANTES levels in the platelet depleted plasma were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).


RESULTS
RANTES alleles -403G, -28C and In1.1T were the predominant alleles in the subjects studied. No significant correlation was found between CHB infection and the RANTES alleles, while a significant correlation was found between CHB infection and increased RANTES expression in platelet depleted plasma (P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
SNPs in RANTES gene do not affect chronic HBV infection or the outcome of interferon-alpha treatment in patients positive for HBV "e" antigen (HBeAg+). However, patients with CHB infection express the higher levels of plasma RANTES, which is thus associated with CHB infection.
Duan
Zhong-ping
ZP
Beijing You-An Hospital, Capital University of Medical Science, Beijing 100054, China. duan2517@sohu.com
Zhao
Xiu-ying
XY
Huang
De-zhuang
DZ
He
Li-xiang
LX
Chen
Yu
Y
Zhao
Chun-hui
CH
Zheng
Bo-jian
BJ
D000483:Alleles; D018946:Chemokine CCL5 / Q000235:genetics*; D005838:Genotype; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
D018946:Chemokine CCL5; D016898:Interferon-alpha