HCV genotyping and host genotyping: what role will they play in the antiviral treatment / 中华检验医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Persistent infection of hepatitis C virus (HCV) remains as a worldwide threat to public health,which involves a complex interaction between virus- and host related factors.HCV is classified as six genotypes and many subtypes according to the sequence heterogenecity.HCV genotype should be determined prior to treatment initiation since it plays a key role in selection of therapeutic regimen for chronic hepatitis C.Development of the antiviral treatment with protease inhibitor in combination with pegylated IFN-α and ribavirin requires the accurate determination of subtypes,e.g. 1a and 1b,as well.Genotyping methods based onsequenceanalysis, reversehybridizationorreal-timePCRhavebeendevelopedand evaluated.Some issues,however,should be settled to standardize the utility and result interpretation of these methods.More recently,host genotypes of IL28B have been found to be closely associated with HCV spontaneous clearance and the response to antiviral therapy.Moreover,polymorphisms in inosine triphosphate pyrophosphatase gene affect ribavirin-induced anemia.Therefore, host genotyping will be beneficial in predicting the outcome of chronic hepatitis C and monitoring the drug-induced adverse events.