They showed that patients infected with genotype 2b had significantly lower RVR rates than those infected with genotype 2a. Moreover, both

RVR and SVR were significantly associated with a favorable IL28B genotype in patients infected with genotype HCV 2b.[37] Other investigators showed that a favorable IL28B genotype was associated with RVR but not SVR in patients infected with HCV genotype 2 or 3.[38, 39] Taken together, these data suggest that the effect of IL28B genotype on SVR is weaker in patients infected with genotype 2 or 3 than genotype 1. With regard to HCV genotype 4, the Selleckchem Inhibitor Library IL28B genotype correlates with response to PEG-IFN/RBV therapy as well as it does for genotype 1.[27, 40-42, 45] There are very few reports on associations in patients infected with HCV genotype 5 or 6. Antaki et al. reported that the IL28B genotype did not predict response to treatment in a small study of patients infected with HCV genotype 5 (n = 49).[43] Seto et al. noted that the SVR rate was higher in patients with a favorable IL28B genotype than in those with an unfavorable genotype (96.2% vs 62.5%, P = 0.014) in selleck screening library their analysis of a total of 60 patients infected with HCV genotype 6.[44] Spontaneous clearance of HCV occurs in approximately 20–30% of patients following acute infection. Host factors have been suggested to have a significant role in HCV clearance or

persistence.[29, 46, 47] Data are accumulating regarding the significance of IL28B polymorphisms not only in response to therapy but also in spontaneous clearance of acute HCV infection (Table 3). medchemexpress GWAS on spontaneous clearance of HCV has been carried out by Rauch et al.[27] A case–control study was designed for 347 individuals with spontaneous HCV clearance, 567 with CHC, and 448 with HCV/HIV co-infection. The significant SNP was also found to be rs8099917 (combined P = 6.07 × 10−9, OR = 2.31)

in this study. The effect on HIV co-infection was similar to that of HCV monoinfection (P = 8.25 × 10−5, OR = 2.16; P = 1.96 × 10−5, OR = 2.49, respectively). Recently, another group reported the results of GWAS on spontaneous resolution of HCV infection in a larger number of patients (919 persons with spontaneous clearance and 1482 with persistent infection) from multiple cohorts. They showed that IL28B (rs12979860, OR = 0.45, P = 2.17 × 10−30) and HLA class II (rs4273729, OR = 0.59, P = 1.71 × 10−16) were independently associated with spontaneous resolution of HCV infection.[48] Thomas et al. performed a candidate gene study to determine whether rs12979860 is also associated with spontaneous clearance of HCV infection.[9] That study included 388 individuals with spontaneous HCV clearance and 620 with persistent HCV infection in a cohort consisting of HCV and HIV/HCV co-infected patients.