Salwa Hamdi Gomaa
Alexandria University, Egypt
Title: Analysis of variant IFNL4 rs368234815 by simple PCR-RFLP technique is as effective as PCR sequencing in Egyptian patients chronically infected with HCV genotype 4
Biography
Biography: Salwa Hamdi Gomaa
Abstract
Background: Hepatitis C viral infection is an endemic health problem in Egypt with the highest prevalence rate worldwide. Several host and viral factors could affect the response to antiviral treatment among the most important host genetic factors, IFNL4 rs368234815 variant that is classified as a deletion/insertion genetic variation (TT/∆G), that proved to have an important role in spontaneous and treatment induced clearance of HCV infection.
Aim: This study aimed to validate a simple, cheap and rapid polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method for analysis of IFNL4 rs368234815 dinucleotide variant in comparison to the reference PCR sequencing technique
Subjects & Methods: IFNL4 rs368234815 variant was genotyped using two methods; a simple PCR-RFLP method and PCR sequencing method as a reference method in 40 patients chronically infected with HCV genotype 4.
Results: Genotyping results of IFNL4 rs368234815 variant with PCR-RFLP were concordant with PCR sequencing method in all studied patients with 100% analytical sensitivity and specificity.
Conclusion: We strongly suggest a validated, simple and rapid PCR-RFLP method for genotyping of common IFNL4 rs368234815 that is more cost-effective than PCR sequencing.