Positional effect of mutations in 5'UTR of hepatitis C virus 4a on patients' response to therapy

Table 1 Distribution of mutations in different loops of domain III in SVR compared with BT patients

Mutation	Position	Region	No. of patients			Effect on ΔG (kcal/mol)
			SVR (n = 14)	BT-PreT (n = 5)	BT Post-T (n = 5)
C-T	148	Junction joining stem-loop IIIa b, c & d	-	-	1	Increased
G-T	158	Loop IIIa	-	1	4	Increased
T-A	175	Loop IIIb	1	-	-	No effect
G & A ins	179		2	-	-	Increased
T ins.	180		1	-	-	Increased
T ins.	181		1	-	-	Increased
C-T	186		-	-	1	No effect
TTT-GGG	194-196		-	1	-	No effect
C ins.	205		1	-	-	No effect
T-C	199		-	-	1	No effect
G-A	243	Junction joining stem-loop IIIa, b, c & d	5	1	4	No effect
C-T	254	Loop IIId	-	1	1	Decreased
A-C	260		1	-	1	Decreased
A-T	260		1	-	-	Decreased
G-T	261		1	-	-	Increased
G-T	268		-	1	1	Decreased
T-C	269		-	1	1	Decreased
G ins.	270		-	1	1	Decreased
A-C	275		2	-	-	Decreased

The distribution of the observed mutations in different loops of domain III in sustained viral response (SVR) and breakthrough (BT) patients is shown. The majority of mutations (14/19) were simple substitutions whereas 5/19 were insertions. Most mutations were found in stem-loops IIIb and d. The effect of each mutation on the overall thermodynamic stability of the related domain is indicated. Decreased ΔG means increased stability and vice versa. Pre-T: Pre-treatment; Post-T: Post-treatment.