In-Vitro Transcription analysis of NSSAfrom HCV-3a circulating in Pakistani patients with chronic hepatitis C and their differential response to antiviral therapy

Objective: Mutations in HCV nonstructural protein 5A [NS5A] play a vital role in virus resistance The aim of this study was to develop a correlation between NS5A mutations [genotype 3a] and virolosical response towards interferon alpha [IFN-alpha] plus ribavirin therapy

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Methods: In this study, which was conducted from 09-02-2013 to 25-11-2015 in the rural area of Province Smdh - Pakistan, total patients' responses to peg-IFN therapy were investigated. Patients were given peg-IFN therapy for 24 to 48 weeks and categorized as sustained virologic responders [SVR] or non-responders [NR] to HCV infection. HCV NS5A region [2215-2335] of genotype 3a was identified in both responders and non-responders

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Results: Twenty-four NR with 24 SVR isolates showed significant mutations within the nonstructural protein 5A region in HCV genotype 3a. The New Zealand [NZL1] [GenBank D17763] differences were observed by using gene. The ISDR mutations for nonstructural protein 5A in non-responders have been reported as a possible explanation of HCV interferon resistance

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Conclusion: Based on these results, it is suggested that decreased SVR is caused by the increased mutations in nonstructural protein 5A sequences. When the sequence outside the Protein kinases R binding domain [PKRBD] [2281-2335] was examined, significant differentiations were observed among the SVR and NR classes at few amino acid strains