Factors associated with the response to interferon-based antiviral therapies for chronic hepatitis C

Table 1 Factors associated with the efficacy of interferon treatment

Factors	Main findings	Ref.
Classically identified viral and host factors
Age, HCV genotype, Viral load, Liver fibrosis	Older age, HCV genotype 1, high viral load, and advanced liver fibrosis were associated with poor treatment results	[3,4]
Viral factors
ISDR	Mutations of the ISDR (NS5A 2209-2234) were positively related to the HCV eradication with IFN-α monotherapy	[14]
Amino acid mutations of the core region (Nos. 70 and 91)	Mutations of amino acids were associated with a poor response to IFN-α plus RBV treatment	[15]
IRRDR	Mutations of the IRRDR (NS5A 2334-2379) were associated with a favorable response to the IFN-α plus RBV treatment	[16,17]
Drug resistant mutation1		[27,28]
Host factors
IL28B SNPs	The hero/minor allele of IL28B SNPs was related to a poor response to Peg-IFN-α plus RBV treatment	[18-20]

¹Resistant mutations to DAAs are only associated with the treatment efficacy of DAA-containing triple therapy. HCV: Hepatitis C virus; ISDR: Interferon sensitivity-determining region; IRRDR: Interferon/ribavirin resistance-determining region; RBV: Ribavirin; SNPs: Single nucleotide polymorphisms; Peg-IFN-α: Pegylated-interferon-α; IL28B: Interleukin 28B; DAA: Direct-acting antiviral.