Association of Interferon Alpha Receptor 1 with sustained virological response in hepatitis C and B co-infected patients

Objective: To determine the association of interferon alpha receptor-1 with success rate of interferon therapy in patients co-infected with hepatitis C virus and hepatitis B virus. Methods: The study was conducted at the Army Medical College, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from December 2013 to November 2014, and comprised patients with hepatitis C and hepatitis B co-infection. The patients were treated with pegylated-interferon-2b plus ribavirin therapy for six months. With respect to interferon therapy, patients with undetectable hepatitis C virus-ribonucleic acid along with normal alanine aminotransferase were considered responders and patients with detectable hepatitis C virus-ribonucleic acid at week 48 were considered as non-responders. SPSS 20 was used for data analysis. Results: Of the 86 patients, there were 50(58%) males and 36(42%) females. The presence of high pre-treatment interferon alpha receptors 1-messenger ribonucleic acid in peripheral blood mononuclear cells was significantly associated with sustained virological response (85.7% vs. 64.7%, P = 0.031). Multiple regression analysis showed that females (p < 0.001), lower hepatitis C virus-ribonucleic acid levels (p < 0.001) and lower hepatitis B virus-deoxyribonucleic acid levels (p < 0.001) were associated with expression level of interferon alpha receptors 1 in the co-infected patients. Conclusion: Interferon alpha receptors 1-messenger ribonucleic acid may be useful for predicting response to interferon plus ribavirin therapy in hepatitis C virus/hepatitis B virus co-infected patients who were females with lower hepatitis C virus-ribonucleic acid and hepatitis B virus-deoxyribonucleic acid levels.