ORIGINAL ARTICLE Influence of IFNL3.rs12979860 and IFNL4.ss469415590 polymorphism on clearance of hepatitis C virus infection among Egyptians Susanne Knapp • Zainab Zakaria • Mohamed Hashem • Hassan Zaghla • Salim I. Khakoo • Imam Waked • Mark Thursz • Sayed F. Abdelwahab Received: 24 October 2014 / Accepted: 19 February 2015 / Published online: 12 March 2015 Ó Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver 2015 Abstract Background/purpose Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) around the interferon lambda 3 (IFNL3; also known as interleukin 28B; IL28B) gene are associated with spontaneous hepatitis C virus (HCV) clearance. Interferon lambda 4 (IFNL4).ss469415590, in linkage disequilibrium (LD) with IFNL3.rs12979860 among the Caucasian population, has recently been identified as a potential functional variant. Our objective was to assess the LD between IFNL3.rs12979860 and IFNL4.ss469415590 and to compare their effect on the outcome of HCV infection among Egyptians, mainly infected with HCV genotype 4. Methods One-hundred and eighty-five Egyptian HCV patients (77 spontaneous resolvers and 108 chronic sub- jects), and 122 healthy controls were genotyped for both IL28B.rs12979860 and IFNL4.ss469415590. Logistic re- gression models including factors with univariate asso- ciation with the outcome of infection were calculated for each genetic marker. The LD was also calculated for the 122 healthy controls. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12072-015-9619-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. S. Knapp Á S. I. Khakoo Á M. Thursz Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, Imperial College, St. Mary’s Hospital, London W21NY, UK e-mail: s.knapp@imperial.ac.uk S. I. Khakoo e-mail: s.i.khakoo@southampton.ac.uk M. Thursz e-mail: m.thursz@imperial.ac.uk Z. Zakaria Á M. Hashem Á S. F. Abdelwahab Vacsera, 51 Wizaret El-Zeraa St., Agouza, Giza 22311, Egypt e-mail: zainab_ali52@hotmail.com M. Hashem e-mail: mhashem@epi.umaryland.edu M. Hashem Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA H. Zaghla Á I. Waked Department of Hepatology, National Liver Institute, Menoufiya University, Menoufiya, Egypt e-mail: hzaghlah@hotmail.com I. Waked e-mail: iwaked@liver-eg.org S. I. Khakoo Department of Hepatology, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK S. F. Abdelwahab (&) Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Minia University, Minia 61511, Egypt e-mail: icpminia@yahoo.com; sayed.awahab@mu.edu.eg Present Address: S. F. Abdelwahab Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Taif University, PO Box 888, Al-Haweiah, Taif 21974, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 123 Hepatol Int (2015) 9:251–257 DOI 10.1007/s12072-015-9619-z