Effectiveness and safety of elbasvir/grazoprevir therapy in patients with chronic HCV infection: Results from the Spanish HEPA-C real-world cohort.

In randomized controlled trials of patients with chronic HCV infection, elbasvir/grazoprevir (EBR/GZR) demonstrated high cure rates and a good safety profile. This study assessed the effectiveness and safety of EBR/GZR, with and without ribavirin, in a real-world HCV patient cohort. HEPA-C is a collaborative, monitored national registry of HCV patients directed by the Spanish Association for the Study of the Liver and the Networked Biomedical Research Centre for Hepatic and Digestive Diseases. Patients entered into HEPA-C between December 2016 and May 2017, and treated with EBR/GZR with at least end-of-treatment response data, were included. Demographic, clinical and virologic data were analysed, and adverse events (AEs) recorded. A total of 804 patients were included in the study. The majority were male (57.9%), with a mean age of 60 (range, 19-92) years. Genotype (GT) distribution was GT 1, 86.8% (1a, 14.3%; 1b, 72.5%); GT 4, 13.2% and 176 patients (21.9%) were cirrhotic. Overall, among 588 patients with available data, 570 (96.9%) achieved sustained virologic response at 12 weeks post-treatment (SVR12). SVR12 rates by genotype were GT 1a, 97.7%; GT 1b, 98.6%; and GT 4, 98.1%. No significant differences in SVR12 according to fibrosis stage were observed. Eighty patients experienced an AE, resulting in treatment discontinuation in three. In this large cohort of patients with chronic HCV managed in a real-world setting in Spain, EBR/GZR achieved high rates of SVR12, comparable to those observed in randomized controlled trials, with a similarly good safety profile.

Autoantibody presentation in drug-induced liver injury and idiopathic autoimmune hepatitis: the influence of human leucocyte antigen alleles.

OBJECTIVES: Positive autoantibody (AAB) titres are commonly encountered in autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and in a proportion of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) patients. The underlying mechanism for selective AAB occurrence in DILI is unknown, but could be associated with variations in immune-associated genes. Hence, we aimed to analyse human leucocyte antigen (HLA) allele compositions in DILI with positive (+) and negative (-) AAB titres and in AIH patients. METHODS: High-resolution genotyping of HLA class I (A, B, C) and II (DRB1, DQB1) loci was performed on 207 DILI and 50 idiopathic AIH patients and compared with 885 healthy Spanish controls. RESULTS: Compared with controls, HLA-B*08:01 [44 vs. 9.7%, P=3.7E-13/corrected P-value (Pc)=1.0E-11], C*07:01 (46 vs. 24%, P=6.4E-04/Pc=0.012), DRB1*03:01 (58 vs. 21.5%, P=5.0E-09/Pc=1.0E-07) and DQB1*02:01 (56 vs. 22%, P=6.8E-08/Pc=9.0E-07) were significantly more frequent in AIH patients. The HLA-A*01:01 frequency was increased in the same population, but did not reach significance after Bonferroni's correction (34 vs. 19%, P=0.02/Pc=0.37). Fifty-eight of 207 DILI patients presented positive titres for at least one AAB (predominantly antinuclear antibody 76% and antismooth muscle antibody 28%). There was a tendency towards higher representation of DRB1*14:01 and DQB1*05:03 in DILI AAB+ compared with DILI AAB- (13.8 vs. 4.0%, P=0.02/Pc=0.5; 13.8 vs. 4.7%, P=0.04/Pc=0.5). CONCLUSION: The presence of HLA alleles B*08:01, C*07:01, DRB1*03:01, DQB1*02:01 and possibly A*01:01 enhances the risk of AIH (type 1) in Spanish patients. These alleles form part of the ancestral haplotype 8.1. HLA-DRB1*14:01 and DQB1*05:03 could potentially increase the risk of positive AAB (particularly antinuclear antibody) in Spanish DILI patients.

Role of chemical structures and the 1331T>C bile salt export pump polymorphism in idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Several pharmaceutical compounds have been shown to exert inhibitory effects on the bile salt export pump (BSEP) encoded by the ABCB11 gene. We analysed the combined effect on drug-induced liver injury (DILI) development of the ABCB11 1331T>C polymorphism and the presence of specific chemical moieties, with known BSEP inhibiting properties, in the causative drug. METHODS: Genotyping using a TaqMan 5' allelic discrimination assay was performed in 188 Spanish DILI patients, 219 healthy controls and 91 sex-, age- and drug-matched controls. A chemical structure analysis was performed for each individual causative drug. RESULTS: The CC genotype was significantly associated with hepatocellular damage [odds ratio (OR) = 2.1, P = 0.001], particularly in NSAID DILI cases (OR = 3.4, P = 0.007). In addition, the CC genotype was found to be significantly linked to DILI development from drugs causing <50% BSEP inhibition (OR = 1.8, Pc = 0.011). Of the BSEP inhibitory chemical moieties, 59% of the causative drugs contained a carbocyclic system with at least one aromatic ring, corresponding to 61% of the total cases. The C allele was significantly more frequent in DILI cases containing this chemical moiety, which appear to be conditioned on the ABCB11 1331T>C polymorphism in the absence of other BSEP inhibitory structures. CONCLUSION: Patients carrying the C allele in the ABCB11 1331T>C polymorphism are at increased risk of developing hepatocellular type of DILI, when taking drugs containing a carbocyclic system with aromatic rings.