Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Virology. Aug 12, 2015; 4(3): 178-184
Published online Aug 12, 2015. doi: 10.5501/wjv.v4.i3.178
Is the use of IL28B genotype justified in the era of interferon-free treatments for hepatitis C?
Tatsuo Kanda, Shingo Nakamoto, Osamu Yokosuka
Tatsuo Kanda, Shingo Nakamoto, Osamu Yokosuka, Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Chiba University, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba 260-8677, Japan
Author contributions: Kanda T, Nakamoto S and Yokosuka O solely contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Tatsuo Kanda reports receiving lecture fees from Chugai Pharmaceutical, MSD, Tanabe-Mitsubishi, Ajinomoto, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Daiichi-Sankyo, Janssen Pharmaceutical and GlaxoSmithKline; Osamu Yokosuka reports receiving grant support from Chugai Pharmaceutical, Bayer, MSD, Daiichi-Sankyo, Tanabe-Mitsubishi, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences and Taiho Pharmaceutical; the other authors have no conflict of interest statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Tatsuo Kanda, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Chiba University, Graduate School of Medicine, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8670, Japan. kandat-cib@umin.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-43-2262086 Fax: +81-43-2262088
Received: April 25, 2015
Peer-review started: April 28, 2015
First decision: June 18, 2015
Revised: June 25, 2015
Accepted: July 21, 2015
Article in press: July 23, 2015
Published online: August 12, 2015
Abstract

In 2009, several groups reported that interleukin-28B (IL28B) genotypes are associated with the response to peginterferon plus ribavirin therapy for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in a genome-wide association study, although the mechanism of this association is not yet well understood. However, in recent years, tremendous progress has been made in the treatment of HCV infection. In Japan, some patients infected with HCV have the IL28B major genotype, which may indicate a favorable response to interferon-including regimens; however, certain patients within this group are also interferon-intolerant or ineligible. In Japan, interferon-free 24-wk regimens of asunaprevir and daclatasvir are now available for HCV genotype 1b-infected patients who are interferon-intolerant or ineligible or previous treatment null-responders. The treatment response to interferon-free regimens appears better, regardless of IL28B genotype. Maybe other interferon-free regimens will widely be available soon. In conclusion, although some HCV-infected individuals have IL28B favorable alleles, importance of IL28B will be reduced with availability of oral interferon free regimen.

Keywords: Hepatitis C virus, Interleukin-28B, Interferon, Japan, Sustained virologic response

Core tip: Genome-wide association studies have revealed that interleukin-28B (IL28B) genotypes are associated with the response to interferon therapy for chronic hepatitis C. The mechanism of this association is not yet clear. Although many hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected individuals have IL28B favorable alleles, in the near future, HCV-infected patients in Japan may be treated with interferon-free regimens, which avoid the adverse events caused by interferon plus ribavirin therapy.