Distribution of genetic polymorphisms associated with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) antiviral response in different geographical regions of Argentina

TRINKS, J; HULANIUK, ML; CAPUTO, M; LOCARNO, L; FURFURO, S; PONTORIERO, A; SANABRIA, DJ; BADANO, I; DEBIAGGI, MF; VITTORI, L; BARTOLI, M; MARINO, M; CORACH, D; FLICHMAN, D

Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Congreso; INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE; 2014

International Milstein Kohler Program in Biomedical Sciences

Background: The prevalence of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IL28B and ITPA genes -identified as predictors of therapeutic-induced Hepatitis C virus (HCV) clearance and ribavirin-induced hemolytic anemia, respectively- differs among ethnic groups. Although the frequency of these genetic predictors was studied in central Argentina and in the metropolitan region of Buenos Aires (Trinks et al., 2014), there is a paucity of information about their prevalence in the remaining areas of the country. Material and Methods: DNA samples were obtained from 571 unrelated anti-HCV (-) volunteers and grouped as follows: Northeast (n=150), Northwest (n=131), West (n=175) and South (n=115). SNPs rs12979860, rs1127354 and rs7270101 were characterized by PCR and bi-directionally sequenced. In 298 randomly-selected samples, ethnicity was assessed in both maternal and paternal lineages by analysis of haplogroups in mitochondrial DNA and Y-SNPs using real-time PCR followed by High Resolution Melting. Fisher?s exact test was used for statistical analysis. A p-value of