title: Peginterferon Alfa-2a/Ribavirin treatment efficacy in chronic hepatitis C patients is related to natural killer group 2D gene rs1049174 GC polymorphism.
abstract: Natural killer group 2D (NKG2D), as an activating receptor, plays pivotal role in viral infectious diseases. Several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the NKG2D gene have characterized that the rs1049174G/C SNP of NKG2D is in the spotlight of notice because of its role in activating of human T cells. This study aimed to investigate rs1049174G/C genetic polymorphism in Chronic Hepatitis C (CHC) patients. The study compromised 107 CHC patients with genotype 1a and 1b. All recruited patients were under treatment with Peginterferon Alfa-2a/Ribavirin according to standard protocol. After completing treatment, 67 patients showed sustained virologic response (SVR) and the rest of patients did not respond to the treatment and considered as non-responder (NR). Genotyping of NKG2D rs1049174G/C SNP was performed using PCR-RFLP method in SVR and NR patients. The NKG2D rs1049174 genotypes frequency for GG, GC and CC were 45, 41 and 14 % respectively. Genotypes distribution were significantly different between SVR and NR groups (p= 0.005). So that the patients with the homozygous GG genotype demonstrated a higher response to Peginterferon Alfa-2a/Ribavirin therapy against HCV infection (OR = 6.0, 95 %CI 1.71-21.08,p= 0.005). In conclusion, the rs1049174 GG genotype of NKG2D receptor is an effective factor in successfully treatment of CHC patients by Peginterferon Alfa-2a/Ribavirin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
authors.forename: Abolghasem
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Asadi-Saghandi
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1021-5051
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shams
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Mycology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
authors.forename: Gilda
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Eslami
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Ali
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Mirghanizadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Ebrahim
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Eskandari-Nasab
keywords: Chronic hepatitis C; NKG2D; Peginterferon Alfa-2a/Ribavirin; rs1049174