Iranian Hepatitis C, chronic Transforming Growth Factor Beta1

Abstract

Background: Chronic hepatitis C infection is caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV), and its clinical complications include liver cirrhosis, liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) is an important cytokine in cell growth and differentiation, angiogenesis, extracellular matrix formation, immune response regulation, and cancer development and progression. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in TGF-β1 and chronic HCV infection among patients referred to the Taleghani Hospital, Tehran, Iran between 2008 and 2010. Patients and Methods: In this case-control study, samples were collected using a convenience sampling method. We genotyped 164 HCV patients and 169 healthy controls for 3 SNPs in the TGF-β1 gene (-509 promoter, codon 10, and codon 25). We determined the SNP genotypes by using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. To confirm the PCR-RFLP genotyping results, 10 % of the samples were re-genotyped using a direct sequencing method