• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.3657-3661
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• 2012

HBV infection is contagious and may be transmitted vertically or horizontally by blood products and body secretions. Over 50% of Iranian carriers have contracted the infection prenatally, making this the most likely route of transmission of HBV in Iran. This study assesses the resistance to Lamivudine in patients with chronic hepatitis B infection using a new ZNA probe Real Time PCR method. To evaluate the effectiveness of Lamivudine therapy for chronic hepatitis B infection, a study was conducted on 70 patients (63 men and 7women), who had received the drug first line. All patients were tested for the presence of HBsAg and HBeAg, the serum ALT level and the HBV DNA load before and after treatment. In all samples resistance to Lamivudine was tested with the ZNA Probe. Our results showed that ZNA Probe Real Time PCR method could detect wild type,YMDD, and its mutants, tyrosine-isoleucine-aspartate-aspartate and tyrosine-valine-aspartate-Aspartate. Among an estimated seventy patients with chronic hepatitis B infection, 18 (25.7%) were resistant to lamivudine. Only one patient was negative for presence of HBS-Ag (5.6%) and two patients were negative for HBe-Ag (11.1%). Real-time PCR with Zip nucleic acid probes is a sensitive, specific and rapid detection method for mutations in the YMDD motif, which will be essential for monitoring patients undergoing Lamivudine antiviral therapy.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.1919-1924
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• 2015

Polymorphisms in the region of the interleukin IL-28 gene on chromosome 19 have been related with clearance of hepatitis C virus (HCV), a major human pathogen responsible for chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. About 3% of the world's population is infected with HCV. The long-term response to therapy is influenced by many host and viral factors, and recent evidence has indicated that some host genetic polymorphisms related to IL-28 are the most powerful predictors of virological response in patients with HCV. This study assessed frequency of the IL-28 polymorphism (rs8099917) in 50 patients (39 men and 11 women) with chronic hepatitis C using ZNA probe real time PCR new method. All patients were tested for genotype of HCV and the HCV viral load. In parallel, the levels of SGOT, SGPT and ALK enzymes were assessed. Treatment using Peg-interferon alpha with ribavirin was conducted for patients and subsequently samples were collected to detect any change in viral load or liver enzyme rates. The overall frequency of the TT allele is 74%, TG allele 20% and GG allele 6% and the percent of patients who had T allele was 84%. Clear reduction in viral load and liver enzymes was reported in patients with the T allele. Especially for genotype 1 which is relatively resistant to treatment, these alleles may have a role in this decline. In conclusion, we showed that IL-28 polymorphism rs8099917 strongly predicts virological response in HCV infection and that real-time PCR with Zip nucleic acid probes is a sensitive, specific and rapid detection method for detection of SNPs which will be essential for monitoring patients undergoing antiviral therapy.