ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the genetic impact of three newly discovered single nueleotide polymorphism (SNP) sites of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 gene on the susceptibility of the chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Methods Genome DNA was extracted from the peripheral blood samples of 115 cases suffering from the chronic HBV infection (74 chronic hepatitis B, 41 cirrhosis) as well as 41 healthy volunteers. Thereafter, genotyping of rs2241715, rs2241716 and rs4803455 sites of the TGF-β1 gene was performed by genotype-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. The data were analyzed by the ehi square test and Fisher exact test. Results There was a significant difference of rs2241715 genotypes and allele frequencies between healthy volunteers and patients with chronic hepatitis B and cirrhosis (χ2 = 11.419, P＜0.01 and χ2 = 6.218, χ2 = 5.961,P＜0.05,respectively). Interestingly, the risk relative of subjects with T/T genotype suffered from chronic hepatitis B (OR = 2. 974, 95% CI = 1.209 - 7. 314, P = 0.018) and cirrhosis (OR = 3.228, 95%CI=1.201-8.675, P=0.020) was dramatically higher than that in patients with T/G or G/G genotypes. Conclusion The TGF-β1 rs2241715 T/T genotype appears to be associated with the chronic HBV infection.