Polymorphisms of α1-antitrypsin and Interleukin-6 genes and the progression of hepatic cirrhosis in patients with a hepatitis C virus infection

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection represents a serious health problem. The –174 G/C mutation in the pro inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) is associated with developing liver diseases. Likewise, the S and Z mutations in the serine protease inhibitor α1-antitrypsin (A1AT) are associated with pulmonary emphysema and/or liver cirrhosis. We explored the distribution of the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of IL-6 and A1AT genes in chronic HCV-infected patients and evaluated their impact on the progression of liver cirrhosis.

Keywords

• α1 antitrypsin (a1at)
• cirrhosis
• inter-leukin 6 (il-6)
• hepatitis c virus (hcv) infection
• polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (pcr-rflp)
• polymorphism