title: A mutation in the interferon regulatory element of HBV may influence the response of interferon treatment in chronic hepatitis B patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A functional interferon regulatory element (IRE) has been found in the EnhI/X promoter region of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genome. The purpose of this study is to compare the gene order of responder and non-responder to interferon therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), so as to evaluate the relationship between IRE mutation and the response to interferon treatment for CHB patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Synthetic therapeutic effect is divided into complete response (CR), partial response (PR) and non-response (NR). Among the 62 cases included in this study, 40 cases (64.5%) were in the response group (CR and PR) and 22 (35.5%) cases were in the NR group. Wild type sequence of HBV IRE TTTCACTTTC were found in 35 cases (56.5%), and five different IRE gene sequences. included TTTtACTTTC, TTTCAtTTTC, TTTtAtTTTC, TTTtACTTTt and cTTtACcTTC, were found in 22 cases (35.5%), 1 case (1.6%), 1 case (1.6%), 2 cases (3.2%) and 1 case (1.6%) respectively. There were 41.9%cases (26/62) with forth base C→T mutation, consisted of 32.5% (13/40) cases in response group and 59.1% (13/22) cases in NR group. Among the 35 cases with IRE sequences, there were 67.5% (27/40) cases in response group and 36.4% (8/22) in NR group, and the difference in IRE sequences between two groups was statistic significantly (P = 0.027). The result suggested that there is likely relationship between the forth base mutation (C→T) of IRE region and the response of HBV to Interferon therapy, and this mutation may partially decrease the inhibition effect of interferon on HBV.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The forth base C→T mutation in IRE element of HBV may partially influence the response of Interferon treatment in CHB patients.
authors.affiliation: Center of Infectious Diseases, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Jia-Jie
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: En-Qiang
authors.initials: EQ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jia-Hong
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Tao-You
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001688:Biological Products / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D007372:Interferons / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D001688:Biological Products; D004279:DNA, Viral; D007372:Interferons