Hepatic Interferon Receptor Mrna Expression: Clinical Relevance and Its Relationship with Effectiveness of Interferon plus Ribavirin Therapy in Patients with Genotype 1B Hepatitis C Virus Infection

Abstract

Background/aims Hepatic expression of interferon (IFN) receptor mRNA has been shown to correlate with the effectiveness of IFN monotherapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. We investigated the expression of hepatic IFN receptor alpha/beta (IFNAR2c) mRNA and its association with the effectiveness of IFN plus ribavirin (RBV) therapy and with the clinical features in patients with HCV genotype 1b (HCV-1b) infection. Methods A total of 42 naive patients who had chronic HCV-1b infection were treated with IFN alpha-2b 3 MU or 5 MU three times weekly plus RBV for 24 weeks. Hepatic IFNAR2c mRNA was quantified by real-time RT-PCR. Results There was no significant difference in the mean expression level of IFNAR2c mRNA between patients with sustained virological response (SVR) and non-SVR (0.069 ±0.042 versus 0.053 ±0.033, P=0.182). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that lower fibrosis scores ( P=0.006) and younger age ( P=0.03) were associated with hepatic IFNAR2c mRNA expression with r2=0.34. Conclusions Hepatic IFNAR2c mRNA expression may not be useful for predicting the response to IFN plus RBV therapy in patients with HCV-1b infection, but appeared to correlate inversely with the fibrosis stage and age.