Impact of toll-like receptor 9 gene polymorphism (1237 t / c) on response to therapy in chronic hepatitis C Egyptian patients / Ghada Emam Abdelaziz ; Supervised Doha Abdelhamid Mokhtar , Rania Ahmed Ahmed Zayed , Dalia Abdelhamid Omran

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Clinical and Chemical Pathology

Background and aim: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection leads to development of liver inflammation, causing morbidity and mortality. Multiple factors influence HCV progression, including genetic factors. Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) plays a key role in innate immunity and mutations in the genes encoding this receptor have been associated with progression of liver damage. Our aim is to detect TLR9 1237 T/C (rs5743836) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in chronic hepatitis C Egyptian patients to determine its association with susceptibility to infection, progression of fibrosis and response to treatment with interferon plus ribavirin. Results: genotype and allelic frequencies of TLR9 1237T/C SNP were not significantly different between studied HCV-positive patients and controls (P=0.373 and 0.405, respectively). TLR9 1237T/C SNP was not associated to treatment response, either ETR or SVR [OR (95% CI) of 0.834 (0.263{u2013}2.643) and 0.698 (0.253{u2013}1.928), respectively) and was not related to advanced stage of fibrosis (P= 0.183). Baseline AFP level was significantly higher in patients with advanced hepatic fibrosis (P= 0.000). Conclusion: TLR9 1237T/C (rs5743836) SNP is not associated to susceptibility to HCV infection, progression of fibrosis or response to combined treatment with Peg-INF plus ribavirin in HCV infected Egyptian patients.

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