Relationship of the genomic complexity of hepatitis C virus with liver disease severity and response to interferon in patients with chronic HCV genotype 1b interferon

In patients with chronic hepatitis C, the influence of the genetic heteroge neity of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) on the progression of liver disease an d on the responsiveness to interferon therapy is a matter of controversy. I n this study we evaluated the genetic complexity of HCV by single-strand co nformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis of amplicons from the hypervariable region 1 (HVR1) in 168 patients with chronic genotype Ib HCV infection, of whom 122 received a single course of interferon therapy (3 MU, three times weekly for 6 months). No correlation was observed between the degree of ge netic complexity of HCV (indicated by the number of bands in the SSCP assay ) and patient age, serum alanine aminotransferase activity, or serum HCV-RN A concentration, measured by competitive polymerase chain reaction. HCV gen omic complexity was not related to gender nor to the presumed source of inf ection. The number of SSCP bands detected in serum samples from patients wi th chronic hepatitis, either mild (8.1 +/- 3.9), moderate (8.0 +/- 3.3), or severe (9.2 +/- 3.3), and in patients with liver cirrhosis, either compens ated (8.0 +/- 2.9), decompensated (6.3 +/- 2.9), or with superimposed hepat ocellular carcinoma (9.5 +/- 2.9), was similar. The number of SSCP bands de tected in patients with sustained response (7.5 +/- 3.9), transient respons e (8.3 +/- 2.9), or no response (8.2 +/- 3.6) to interferon administration was similar as well. These observations suggest that the genetic complexity of hypervariable region (HVR1) of HCV, as estimated by SSCP analysis, is n ot related to the severity of liver injury nor to the type of response to i nterferon therapy. Thus, information offered by SSCP analysis of HVR1 of HC V in chronic HCV genotype Ib infection does not appear to be useful in the clinical management of these patients.