Genotype determination and mutation analysis in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is an important cause of chronic liver disease, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Different viral genotypes may differ in terms of biologic behaviour, treatment response and geographic distribution. In this study, we aimed to detect genotype distribution in our region, analysis of mutations in viral genome, effect of genotype and mutations on clinical course of the disease and treatment response. Fiftyone(51) patients who were diagnosed as having chronic HCV infection at Gaziantep University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Gastroenterology were included into the study. Patients composed of 26 males and 25 females with a mean age of 50,0±8,6. years . Genotype 1 is determined as predominant genotype in 45 (88.2%) out of 51 patients. Of these, 40 (78.4%) patients were diagnosed as genotype 1b, 5 (9.8%) as genotype 1a, 4 (7.8%) as genotyp 2a, 1 (2%) as genotyp 3a, 1 (2%) as genotyp 4c. According to mutations analysis on nucleotide and aminoacid sequences, 20 insertion, 16 deletion, 14 transvertion, 17 transition mutations were detected. Sustained virologic response was detected in 33 (64.7%) patients. 18 patients (35.3%) were non-responders to treatment. Treatment response in genotype 1 patients was 64.4% and %66.6 in genotype non-1 patients. No statistically significant difference in treatment response and laboratory data according to the mutations was detected. In conclusion, the most frequent genotype in our region is genoype 1b. Effect of viral genotype and mutations on treatment response was not detected in our patient population.