ABSTRACT
According to the World Health Organization, Hepatitis B virus [HBV] is considered a major global public health problem. The genetic background may be a crucial etiologic factor in HBV infection and its complications. Interleukin-27 [IL-27] is a newly discovered cytokine encoded by 2 genes [EBI3 and p28]. Mutations in the IL-27 gene may lead to altered cytokine production and/or activity and thus modulate individual's susceptibility to HVB infection. This work was designed to study the association of IL-27p28 [964A/G, 2905T/G and 4730T/C] gene promoter single nucleotide polymorphism [SNP] with the risk of Hepatitis B virus [HBV] in Egyptians. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first one that examines IL-27p28 promoter polymorphism in Egyptian patients. One hundred and sixteen patients with HBV infection and 101 healthy controls were genotyped by using polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism [PCR/RFLP] in Egyptian population. There were no significant differences in the genotype and allele frequencies of IL-27p28 gene polymorphisms between patients and controls. Furthermore, no association was found between the distributions of the haplotypes and HBV risk. Our data suggested that polymorphisms in the IL-27 gene may not contribute to HBV susceptibility. Further studies with large sample size should be conducted to validate these results in Egyptian population