Correlation of CCR5 and NLRP3 gene polymorphisms with renal damage due to hepatitis C virus-related cryoglobulinemia

Correlation of C-C chemokine receptor type 5 (CCR5) and NACHT, LRR and PYD domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) gene polymorphisms with renal damage due to hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related cryoglobulinemia were investigated. The 1:1 matched case-control study design was adopted, 171 patients with renal damage due to HCV-related cryoglobulinemia were selected as the case group, and 171 patients without renal damage were selected as the control group. Polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis was used to detect the polymorphisms of locus rs1799987A/G in CCR5 gene and locus rs35829419A/C in NLRP3 gene of 171 pairs of HCV patients. SPSS 20.0 software was used for logistic regression analysis, and genetics package of the R programming language for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium test. The frequencies of locus rs1799987A/G in CCR5 gene in the case group were 48.0 and 52.0%, while those in the control group were 47.9 and 52.1%; the frequencies of locus rs35829419A/C in NLRP3 gene were 55.8 and 44.2%, while those in the control group were 55.3 and 44.7%. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that the distribution of CCR5 gene polymorphism in the case group was statistically different from that in the control group (P<0.05), which had a statistical correlation with the renal damage due to HCV-related cryoglobulinemia (P<0.05). At rs1799987, GG genotype was compared with AA genotype, and AG genotype was compared with AA genotype; the results showed that the renal damage due to HCV-related cryoglobulinemia was not decreased [odds ratio (OR) = 0.91, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.47–1.54; OR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.49–1.31]. The negative analysis model of the GG genotype reduced the risk of renal damage due to HCV-related cryoglobulinemia remarkably (OR = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.39–0.98). Rs1799987A/G and gene polymorphism of CCR5 may be associated with renal damage due to HCV-related cryoglobulinemia, and the carriage of G allele may lower the incidence rate of the disease, while rs35829419A/C in NLRP3 has no correlation with renal damage due to HCV-related cryoglobulinemia.