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Associations between human TRIM22 gene expression and the response to combination therapy with Peg‐IFNα‐2a and ribavirin in Iranian patients with chronic hepatitis C
Author(s) -
Sadeghi Farzin,
BokharaeiSalim Farah,
SalehiVaziri Mostafa,
Monavari Seyed Hamidreza,
Alavian Seyed Moayed,
Salimi Shima,
Vahabpour Rouhollah,
Keyvani Hossein
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.23985
Subject(s) - ribavirin , medicine , hepatitis c virus , immunology , peripheral blood mononuclear cell , hepatitis c , interferon , viral load , combination therapy , virology , pegylated interferon , virus , alpha interferon , hepacivirus , biology , in vitro , biochemistry
Interferons are able to exert an antiviral effect against hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection via induction of interferon‐stimulated genes (ISGs). This study tested whether differential expression of an important ISG with antiviral properties, tripartite motif 22 (TRIM22), correlates with a response to Peg‐IFNα‐2a/RBV combination therapy in treatment‐naive patients with chronic hepatitis C. A total of 32 patients with chronic hepatitis C were enrolled in this study and received standard Peg‐IFNα‐2a/RBV combination therapy. HCV viral load was measured during treatment, at the end of treatment, and 6 months later to determine the treatment outcome. Quantitative real‐time PCR was used to assess the expression levels of TRIM22 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of the patients before antiviral therapy. Of the 32 patients, 26 (81.3%) were males. In this study, there were 16 (50%) individuals with a sustained virologic response (SVR), and a virologic relapse was observed in the remaining half of the subjects. Testing for the presence of genomic HCV RNA in blood during therapy revealed a rapid virologic response (RVR) in 10 (31.2%) and a partial and complete early virologic response (EVR) in 8 (25%) and 24 (75%) of the cases, respectively. TRIM22 mRNA levels were significantly higher in patients with a sustained virologic response than in relapsers ( P = 0.002) and in patients with a rapid virologic response than in the others ( P = 0.040). No statistically significant difference was seen in the expression of TRIM22 between patients with a partial early virologic response and a complete early virologic response. This study showed that pretreatment upregulation of TRIM22 may be associated with responsiveness to Peg‐IFNα‐2a/RBV combination therapy. J. Med. Virol. 86:1499–1506, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.