Analysis of TLR7, SOCS1 and ISG15 immune genes expression in the peripheral blood of responder and non-responder patients with chronic Hepatitis C

AIM: To evaluate the baseline expression of the immune genes in PBMCs of responder and non-responder patients with chronic Hepatitis C. BACKGROUND: Although the contribution of peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) gene expression in treatment outcome of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is supposed, it has remained to be distinctly delineated. The baseline expression of the immune genes inside PBMCs may reflect the responsiveness status following IFN treatment. METHODS: Totally, 22 chronic HCV encompasses 10 responders and 12 non-responsive cases enrolled randomly regarding medical records. The PBMCs from the peripheral blood samples were isolated and then incubated for 6 hours in the culture media. The baseline expression of TLR7, SOCS1 and ISG15 was measured by Real time PCR. RESULTS: The gene expression pattern in PBMCs of both groups showed a similar trend. The expression of SOCS1 and TLR7 genes showed higher levels in non-responder group (P>0.05). The result of ISG15 showed a higher but non-significant expression in the responder group (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: The similar pattern of TLR7, SOCS1 and ISG15 expression in the responder and non-responder patients indicated their poor discriminating and predictive value in PBMCs sample.