Avaliação do perfil de citocinas e análise dos polimorfismos dos genes das citocinas IL28B, TNFα, IL6 e IL10 em pacientes positivos para o vírus da hepatite C

Abstract

Introduction: Hepatitis C is a public health problem that affects over 150 million people worldwide. It is a very variable disease prognosis that may progress to healing or the development of chronic hepatitis C, liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and death. Identification of polymorphic regions that influence the concentrations of cytokines is something that has been studied to justify the susceptibility of certain individuals in developing hepatitis C crônica. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of polymorphisms: IL28B (rs8103142), -308TNFα, -174IL6 and -1082IL10 on the cytokine profile TH1, TH2 and TH17, in samples from patients with chronic hepatitis C before treatment begins and blood donors candidates. Méthods: The techniques used in this study were: Flow Cytometry for the cytokine dosages, PCR-RFLP and qPCR to determine polymorphisms. Results: A total of 116 subjects were studied, 69 HCV+ and 47 controls. We observed a higher prevalence males in both groups, with an average age above 40 years for HCV +. The most frequent genotype for the IL28B was CT, TT and CC followed in both groups. For -308TNFα, the GG genotype was the most prevalent, both in patients and in controls. We observed statistically significant differences in genotype GA HCV+ among patients and controls. To -174IL6, the GG genotype was the most prevalent in both groups, followed by GC. The CC genotype was not found in the control group. The AA genotype was more prevalent for -1082IL10, HCV+ patients and controls, followed by AG and GG. The cytokines IL-2, IL-6, IFN-y, IL-17A, showed to be increased in HCV+ patients compared to controls. The concentration of IL-10 was higher in the control group compared to HCV + patients. Patients with genotype GA for -308TNFα showed higher concentrations of TNF-α compared with control subjects. It was also observed that patients HCV+ with genotypes GG and GC for IL-6 had a higher concentration of IL-6 compared to controls, were not observed significant associations between genotype frequencies of -1082IL10 and the concentrations of cytokines in patients HCV+. Conclusion: The results suggest a possible influence of polymorphisms of TNF-α and IL-6 on the production and release of cytokines.