The purpose of this study was to evaluate the expression level of Interferon-stimulated Gene 15 (ISG15), Interleukin28B (IL28B) or IFN-lambda-3 and Ubiquitin specific peptidase 18 (USP18) genes in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) of patients with chronic active and inactive hepatitis B in comparison with healthy individuals.
Despite the presence of the vaccine for hepatitis B virus (HBV), it remains a public health challenge. The effort to uncover the immune genes attributed to infection outcome is going through.
This Cross-sectional study was conducted on hepatitis B infected patients that were admitted to the Clinic of Liver diseases, Shiraz, January-November 2016. Patients were divided into two groups including active and inactive chronic regarding relevant World Gastroenterology Organization Global Guideline. They were mono-infected with HBV, and HCV or HIV co-infection was excluded from the study. Gene expression analysis was performed on fresh PBMCs samples with the help of Real-time PCR method.
Interleukin 28B gene expression showed no statistically significant difference between the three studied groups (P>0.05). The expression level of ISG15 was significantly higher in the healthy control group compared to active (P= 0.0068) and inactive chronic subjects (P<0.0001). Similarly, USP18 expression level in the control group was also significantly higher compared to the active (P= 0.0228) and inactive chronic patients (P=0. 0226).