Interferon lambda 4 protein can be generated in IFNL4-DeltaG carriers but not IFNL4-TT homozygotes. We studied 890 anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive participants in the Women’s Interagency HIV Study. Among blacks (n = 555), HCV was more often cleared for those with genotype IFNL4-TT/TT (32.6%; odds ratio [OR], 3.59; P = 3.3 x 10(-5)) than IFNL4-TT/DeltaG (11.3%; OR, 0.95; P = .86) or IFNL4-DeltaG/DeltaG (11.9%; referent). Pooling these data with published results in blacks (n = 1678), ORs were 3.84 (P = 8.6 x 10(-14)) for IFNL4-TT/TT and 1.44 (P = .03) IFNL4-TT/DeltaG, and the area under the curve was 0.64 for IFNL4-DeltaG genotype and 0.61 for rs12979860 (IL28B). IFNL4-DeltaG is strongly associated with impaired spontaneous HCV clearance.
Association of the IFNL4-DeltaG allele with impaired spontaneous clearance of hepatitis C virus
Journal of Infectious Diseases, 209 (3), 350-354. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jit433. PMCID: PMC3883162.