MONDAY, Sept. 16 (HealthDay News) -- For individuals with acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, female gender, IL28B CC genotype, and HCV genotype 1 are independently linked to spontaneous clearance, according to research published online Aug. 2 in Hepatology.
Jason Grebely, Ph.D., from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, and colleagues examined the time-course and factors associated with spontaneous clearance in a cohort of 632 individuals with acute HCV. Data were collected from an international collaboration of nine prospective cohorts.
The researchers found that spontaneous clearance occurred in 173 of 632 individuals during follow-up, and 25 percent had cleared virus at one year following infection. The median time to clearance was 16.5 weeks for those with clearance; and, at three, six, and 12 months, 34, 67, and 83 percent demonstrated clearance. Factors independently linked to time-to-clearance included female sex, IL28B CC genotype, and HCV genotype 1 (adjusted hazard ratios, 2.16, 2.26, and 1.56, respectively), after adjustment for age. Compared with males, among females, the effect of IL28B genotype and HCV genotype 1 was greater.
"In conclusion, female sex, favorable IL28B genotype and HCV genotype 1 infection are independent predictors of spontaneous HCV clearance following acute infection," the authors write. "Further research is required to better understand the mechanism behind the potential effect of female sex on HCV viral control."
Abstract
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