Background/aims: To investigate the influence of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I and II alleles on the response in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients receiving combination therapy with pegylated interferon-alfa and ribavirin.
Methodology: One hundred and six CHC patients who accomplished combination treatment were enrolled. Sixty-seven patients achieved sustained virologic response (SVR). HLA-A, -B, -C, -DR, and -DQ loci were determined by sequence-based genotyping. The effects of virologic variables and HLA alleles on SVR were evaluated by logistic regressions.
Results: Univariate analyses showed that SVR was significantly associated with low pre-treatment HCV RNA levels, HCV genotype non-1, high pre-treatment ALT levels, a significant decline of ALT levels from baseline to week 4, and the low body mass index. Among HLA class I and II alleles, the occurrence of SVR was significantly associated with lack of HLA-B60 and existence of HLA-A33 in univariate analyses (OR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.14-0.77; p = 0.01; OR, 2.16; 95% CI, 0.86-5.45; p = 0.30 with a trend, respectively). Multivariate analyses revealed that HLA-A33 significantly favored SVR after adjusted for potential confounders (OR, 7.86; 95% CI, 1.43-43.30; p value after Holm's procedure = 0.03).
Conclusions: HLA-A33 is associated with the achievement of SVR in Taiwanese CHC patients receiving combination therapy with pegylated interferon-alfa plus ribavirin.