Cytokines are crucial in controlling inflammation during viral infection, particularly infection with the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Cytokine genetic polymorphisms can change how the immune system responds to this infection. We investigated how the HCV infection treatment was affected by single nucleotide polymorphisms in these genes. The goal of this study was to examine any connections between the cytokine gene polymorphisms for interleukins (IL)-22-binding protein rs6570136, as well as IL-10 rs1800872 and rs1878672 in the Pakistani population and responsiveness to direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) treatment. This study evaluated 155 participants, which included 55 patients who achieved sustained virologic response (SVR), 40 relapse patients, and 60 healthy controls, to assess and compare the clinical parameters. The SVR and relapse groups were compared for their allelic and genotypic frequencies. We discovered that the SVR and the relapse groups had significantly different genotype frequencies for IL-10 rs1800872 and IL-22BP rs6570136 in the Pakistani population. The G/G genotype in rs6570136 and A/A genotype in rs1800872 were significantly associated with relapse following DAA therapy, with P values 0.002 and 0.0004, respectively. In contrast, rs1878672 showed no significant correlation with HCV relapse, P = 0.63.
Keywords: direct-acting antivirals; hepatitis C virus infection; relapse; single nucleotide polymorphisms; sustained virological response.