This study aimed to evaluate whether genetic polymorphisms of the inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene NOS2A could be associated with a sustained virological response (SVR) among patients infected with hepatitis C virus genotypes 1 and 2 (HCV-1 and HCV-2) who were treated with peginterferon plus ribavirin (PEG-IFNα-RBV). We analyzed the associations between SVR to PEG-IFNα-RBV therapy and two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in NOS2A. This study included Taiwanese Chinese patients infected with either HCV-1 (n = 265) or HCV-2 (n = 195) with or without a SVR. Among the NOS2A SNPs examined, the combination of genotypes A/A and A/G of rs2248814 was inversely correlated with SVR in patients infected with HCV-1 (P = 0.0048), particularly in males (P = 0.0281). This effect was not observed in patients infected with HCV-2. The AC NOS2A haplotype comprising two SNPs (rs2248814 and rs2072324) was found to be associated with SVR, and its presence may decrease the chances for a successful outcome of treatment of patients infected with HCV-1 (P = 0.0053). HCV-1 infected patients who carried the A-C diplotype will have a lower success rate of achieving a SVR (P = 0.0117). In addition, a multivariate logistic regression model for predicting a SVR revealed that the presence of the A-C diplotype interactively affected the outcome of PEG-IFNα-RBV treatment. The presence of NOS2A SNPs and the association with SVR showed that NOS2A polymorphisms may influence the therapeutic outcomes of patients infected with HCV-1 under standard of care treatment.
Keywords: hepatitis C virus; inducible nitric oxide synthase; standard of care treatment; sustained virological response.
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