Estimation the Role of Interleukin-18 Promoter Polymorphisms (-607 C/A and 137 G/C) in Patient Infected with Hepatitis C Virus and Treatment with Sofosbuvir Drug

Background: Two polymorphisms, -607 C/A and -137 G/C, together with their corresponding haplotypes, are known to affect the expression of Interleukin (IL-18). Numerous Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in the gene promoter region influence IL-18 production. The study's objective is to ascertain whether IL-18 promoter polymorphisms (-607 C/A and 137 G/C) caused patients to respond or not during sofosbuvir treatment.

Methods: Using reverse transcriptase-PCR technology, patients in our study were split into two groups: Those who were anti-HCV positive and HCV-RNA negative (n=55) and responded to sofosbuvir treatment, and those who were anti- HCV positive and HCV-RNA positive (n=25) and did not respond to sofosbuvir treatment. Primer specific Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for IL-18-137, 607 SNPs was performed for patients who responded and did not respond to sofosbuvir treatment.

Results: Our results show that of the 284 patients with hepatitis C virus infection, 258/284 (90.8%) responded to sofosbuvir treatment, while 26/284 (9.2%) did not. Out of the 284 patients who had the hepatitis C virus and were receiving sofosbuvir medication, we chose 80 individuals for additional testing, of whom 55 reacted to the medication and 25 did not. The IL-18 promoter SNPS-137 revealed that GG (56.4%) was higher in patients who responded to sofosbuvir therapy, while CC (68%) was higher in patients who did not respond to sofosbuvir therapy. In a similar vein, the IL-18 promoter SNPS-607 showed that patients who responded to sofosbuvir therapy had higher CC (63.6%) and those who did not had higher AC (52%).

Conclusion: This study shows how interleukin-18 polymorphisms affect how well Egyptian individuals respond to sofosbuvir treatment for chronic hepatitis C.