Human leukocyte antigen-DP loci are associated with the persistent infection of hepatitis B virus in Chinese population

A genome-wide association study recently showed that genetic variants in human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DP loci were strongly associated with a risk of persistent infection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in Japanese and Thai individuals and variants in interleukin 28B (IL-28B) have been associated with responses to anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment.The aim of this study was to investigate whether the HLA-DP loci and IL-28B were associated with different outcomes of chronic HBV infection (CHB) in Chinese subjects.The rs9277535 near HLA-DPB1,rs3077 near HLA-DPA1,and rs12979860 near IL-28B were genotyped by direct sequencing in 185 CHB patients and 193 self-limited hepatitis B virus (SLHBV)-infected subjects who recovered from HBV infection.The rs9277535 near HLA-DPB1 was strongly associated with CHB ( P =0.000018 1,OR =1.905).This association was observed independent of HBV e antigen (HBeAg) status and HBV viral loads in HBeAg-positive CHB patients (P =0.0004,OR =1.956),in HBeAg-negative CHB patients (P =0.000 9,OR =1.857),and in HBeAg-negative CHB individuals without detectable levels of HBV DNA in serum ( P =0.001 1,OR =2.05).The rs3077 near HLA-DPA1 was associated with CHB (P =0.020 6,OR =0.686 5) and HBeAg-positive CHB infection status ( P =0.014 3,OR =0.604 7).Meanwhile,a genetic variation of insertion-deletion (INDEL) polymorphism (rs361527,-/ATAAATGTTGA) near HLA-DPA1 was found to be associated with CHB (P =0.030 7,OR =0.702 8)and HBeAg-positive CHB infection status (P =0.023 3,OR =0.619).However,the rs12979860 genotype near IL-28B had no correlation with CHB.This study demonstrated that in the Han Chinese populations,HLA-DP loci,but not IL-28B,were associated with persistence of infection in different outcomes of HBVinfected patients; however,the mechanism needs to be further investigated.