LETTER

IL28B polymorphisms do not predict response to therapy in chronic hepatitis C with HCV genotype 5 We read with interest the paper by Hayes et al1 on the impact of genetic poly-morphisms near IL28B in predicting treat-ment response in chronic hepatitis C patients infected with hepatitis C virus genotype 1 (HCV-1). These results confirm the large, existing evidence in support of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near IL28B being the most powerful predic-tors of virological response in patients infected with all major HCV genotypes, that is, 1e4.2 No data is available for HCV-5, a rare genotype neglected in clinical trials.3 We report IL28B SNP frequency and its impact on treatment outcome in 49 patients of homogeneous Caucasian ancestry, all from Syria, infected with HCV-5. Treatment included 180 mg of pegylated interferon a2a (IFN-a2a) or 1.5 mg/kg of pegylated IFN-a2b weekly plus 1000e1200 mg of ribavirin/day (n43) or IFN-a2a, 3 million units three times weekly plus 1000e1200 mg of riba-virin/day (n6). Diagnostic assessments and outcome measures were according to inter-national guidelines.4 Genomic DNA was obtained from peripheral blood mononuclear cells and SNPs near IL28B (markers rs8099917 and rs12979860) were genotyped by TaqMa