The Relationship Between HLA Typing and HCV Infection and Outcome of Renal Transplantation in HCV Positive Patients

Abstract

The role of Human Leukocytic Antigen (HLA) antigens in susceptibility to Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection is still being debated. We analyzed HLA phenotype frequencies in two major ethnic groups, namely Egyptian and Saudi nationals. The Egyptian group included 110 patients of whom 55 were HCV positive and the other 55 HCV negative (control group). The Saudi group included 146 HCV positive patients and 122 HCV negative individuals (control group). The results for the Egyptian population revealed increased frequencies of some HLA phenotypes and decreased frequencies of others but without any statistically significant difference. In contrast, in the Saudi population, the HLA-A19 phenotype was significantly increased in HCV positive patients when compared with the control group while significantly decreased frequencies were found for HLA-B8, HLA-DRI and HLA DR3. Our data suggest that there was no significant association between HLA phenotypes and susceptibility to HCV infection among the Egyptian population while the overall data of the Saudi population seem to indicate that the expression of particular HLA alleles could be associated with susceptibility or resistance to the HCV infection. Further studies on larger numbers of patients are needed to support the role of the HLA system in HCV infection. A total of 108 HCV positive patients underwent renal transplantation at the Jeddah Kidney Center and the results were compared with 100 age and sex-matched controls. Graft survival at 36 months was 82% and 86% for HCV positive and control subjects respectively while patient survival was respectively 90% and 91%. Our data suggest that the outcome, at least in the short-time, of renal transplantation in HCV positive patients is very good.