Pharmacogenomics Study on IL28B Genetic Variants in Italian Patients With HCV Infection naïve to Treatment.

This study is a prevalence study involving naïve patients and without links with treatment. Five hundred patients with HCV infection consecutively observed during 2011 will be requested to sign an informed consent at the aim to be tested for genetics. The study will be evaluated and approved by the Central Ethic Committee. It will have a planned duration of 12 months and will involve 15 centers. All the HCV infected patients previously untreated can be enrolled once they have signed the Informed consent for genetic testing. Each patient enrolled at the single center will be evaluated for demographical, virological, biochemical, histological and genetic (IL28B) characteristics. In case of unavailable liver biopsy at least APRI score and Fibroscan evaluation should be used to assess the severity of the underlying liver disease. All the blood specimens will be stored and evaluated by a pre-developed TaqMan allelic discrimination assay (Applied Biosystem) or by direct sequencing for IL28B genetic variation. A serum sample will be also stored to evaluate HCV genotype and HCV RNA levels. Data will be collected in a database that can be used in the future to select patients needing antiviral treatment. The association between IL28B variants and the other predictors will be explored by means of descriptive statistical analyses. Number of patients, mean, standard deviation, median will be calculated for continuous variables. Absolute frequencies and per cent will be used to describe frequencies parameters