Study of CCR5-59353C/T Polymorphism in the Iranian Patients With Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection

Background: CCR5isidentifiedasoneof themostimportantchemokinereceptorswithamajorroleinthecreationof chemotaxis and mobilization of immunocompetent cells and moving them toward the liver for thorough cleaning of the virus. CCR5-59353 (C/T) is an important promoter polymorphism of chemokine receptor 5. Some studies showed a relationship between CCR5-59353 (C/T) polymorphism and clearance or persistence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Objectives: ThecurrentstudyaimedatdevelopingpolymorphismCCR5-59353(C/T)inIranianpatientswithchronicHBVinfection. Methods: A total of 200 blood samples including 100 healthy controls and 100 HBsAg-positive patients were randomly selected. SamplesweretestedforHBsAgbytheenzyme-linkedimmunosorbentassay(ELISA)andHBV-DNAbythepolymerasechainreaction (PCR) method. Genomic DNA was extracted from blood buffy coat using the salting out method. CCR5-59353 (C/T) polymorphism was genotyped by the allele specific amplification (ASA) PCR. Chi-square test was used for statistical analysis. Results: Fivepercentof controlsamplesand12% of patientsampleshadCCmutantgenotype. Nevertheless,therewasnosignificant difference in genotypes frequency of CCR5-59353 between the groups (P = 0.1). Conclusions: It seems that CCR5-59353 polymorphism was not associated with chronic HBV infection outcome in the Iranian population. However, the frequency of CC genotype was higher in the patient group (12%) than the control group (5%).