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Updated: May 4, 2026

Analysis of HBV-Specific CD4 T-cell Responses and Identification of HLA-DR-Restricted CD4 T-Cell Epitopes Based on a Peptide Matrix
Published on: October 20, 2021
No impact of interleukin-28B polymorphisms on spontaneous or drug-induced hepatitis delta virus clearance
Ubaldo Visco-Comandini1, Daniele Lapa2, Chiara Taibi1
1POIT Department, National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani", Rome, Italy.
Background:
rs12979860 and rs8099917 interleukin-28B polymorphisms are associated with spontaneous or interferon-alpha induced hepatitis C clearance, "CC" and "TT" genotypes (respectively) being the most favourable. There are no data on the influence of interleukin-28B polymorphisms on hepatitis delta clearance in hepatitis B/D co-infected patients.
Aims:
The present study explores the potential influence of both rs12979860 and rs8099917 polymorphisms on delta infection outcome.
Methods:
Retrospective-longitudinal study on 55 European patients observed for at least 4 years, selected from a cohort of 439 subjects positive for hepatitis delta antibodies and hepatitis B core antibodies. The rate of spontaneous and interferon induced delta-RNA clearance was compared in interleukin-28B rs12979860 "CC" vs "non CC", and in rs8099917 "TT" vs "non TT" genotypes.
Results:
Prevalence of rs12979860C allele was 60%, consistent with the reported prevalence in Italy (67%, p=0.128). No significant differences in spontaneous clearance rate were observed between rs12979860 "CC" and "non CC" genotypes (13.3% vs 7.5%, respectively, p=0.60), and between rs8099917 "TT" and "non-TT" genotypes (11.1 vs 7.1%, respectively, p=0.67). No differences were observed for interferon-induced delta-RNA clearance either.
Conclusions:
Our data suggest that interleukin-28B polymorphisms might not influence hepatitis delta clearance rate in either natural history or interferon-alpha response.
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