Association of genetic variants in innate immunity genes with spontaneous viral clearance and with interferon response in chronic hepatitis C virus infection

Background: The innate immune processes form the first line of host defence determining HCV susceptibility and the likelihood of treatment response. Host genetic factors influence the natural course of infection and the therapy outcome. Especially, genes encoding regulatory proteins and pro-inflammatory cytokines are perfect candidates for examining the impact of genetic polymorphisms on the efficacy of HCV specific immunity. In our study we investigated the effects of several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in “key” genes of the innate immune system on infection progression and on the prediction of susta…