No association between IFNL3 (IL28B) genotype and response to peginterferon alfa-2a in HBeAg-positive or -negative chronic hepatitis B

Wei, L
Wedemeyer, H
Liaw, Y-F
Chan, HL-Y
Piratvisuth, T
Marcellin, P
Jia, J
Tan, D
Chow, W-C
Brunetto, MR
Diago, M
Gurel, S
Morozov, V
He, H
Zhu, Y
Wat, C
Surujbally, B
Thompson, AJ

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Publication date

July 2018

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0199198

Publisher

Public Library of Science (PLoS)

Journal

PLoS ONE

Abstract

BACKGROUND & AIMS: It has yet to be firmly established whether host IFNL3 (IL28B) genotype influences interferon responsiveness in patients with chronic hepatitis B. We investigated associations between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the IFNL3 region and response to peginterferon alfa-2a in 701 patients enrolled in three large, randomized, international studies. METHODS: Responses were defined as hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) loss and/or hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion plus hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA <2000 IU/ml in HBeAg-positive patients, and HBsAg loss and/or HBV DNA <2000 IU/ml in HBeAg-negative patients (24 weeks after end of treatment). Associations between treatment response and the number of copies of t...