Association between polymorphism of tumor necrosis factor-alpha promoter and response to lamivudine treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis B.
BACKGROUND
TNF-alpha promoter polymorphism is known to play an important role in the immunopathogenesis of infection of hepatitis B virus.


OBJECTIVE
We investigated whether polymorphisms of TNF-alpha promoter at position -308 or -238 had associations with the response to lamivudine treatment.


METHODS
A total of 89 healthy subjects (control group) and 225 patients with chronic hepatitis B treated with lamivudine were included in this study. Polymorphisms of TNF-alpha promoter at position -308 and -238 were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction. Recruited patients were classified according to the outcome of lamivudine treatment into the responder (103 patients) or non-responder (122 patients) group.


RESULTS
The numbers of A allelic polymorphism of TNF-alpha promoter at position -238 were four (2.2%) in the control, five (2.4%) in the responder and 19 (7.8%) in the non-responder group. The A allele was noted significantly more frequently in the responder than non-responder group (P = 0.012). At position -308, a significant difference was observed between the control group (14; 7.9%) and total chronic hepatitis B patients (15; 3.3%) (P = 0.015).


CONCLUSIONS
Our study demonstrated that the non-response to lamivudine treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis B might be related to the A allelic polymorphism of TNF-alpha promoter at position -238.
Park
Yong Kwang
YK
Brain Korea 21 Project for Medical Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Lee
Jung Min
JM
Kim
Do Young
DY
Chang
Hye Young
HY
Kim
Ja Kyung
JK
Lee
Chun Kyon
CK
Park
Jun Yong
JY
Ahn
Sang Hoon
SH
Lee
Kwan Sik
KS
Han
Kwang Hyub
KH
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005838:Genotype; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D019259:Lamivudine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011336:Probability; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000187:drug effects*; D012016:Reference Values; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017211:Treatment Failure; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D055815:Young Adult
D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D019259:Lamivudine