The prevalence of anti-HCV among patients on hemodialysis is consistently higher than in the general population, indicating that patients on hemodialysis programs are at risk of acquiring HCV infection. The response to interferon alpha 2b (IFN -alpha 2b) therapy in chronic C hepatitis depends on viral and host factors. We treated 22 chronic C hepatitis uremic patients with IFN -alpha 2b (3 MU three times a week) and compared interferon responsive and unresponsive patients with regard to HLA II genes. HLA II genes were investigated by PCR-SSP low resolution, anti-HCV with ELISA II and HCV-RNA with reverse transcriptase "nested" PCR.
Findings: HLA DRB1*13 is 50% positive in the non-responder group (four women, four men, mean age; 28.8+/-11.9 years) and 7% in the responder group (five women, nine men, mean age; 32.2+/-7.8 years) (p<0.05). There was no difference with respect to HLA genes between controls (six women, eight men, mean age; 29.5+/-12.8 years) and patients (nine women, 13 men, mean age; 31.0+/-9.3 years) (HLA DRB1*13 is 28% and 22% positive, respectively). We conclude that major histocompatibility complex class II genes influence the outcome of chronic C hepatitis treatment with IFN -alpha 2b.