Mutations in carboxy-terminal part of E2 including PKR/eIF2α phosphorylation homology domain and interferon sensitivity determining region of nonstructural 5A of hepatitis C virus 1b: Their correlation with response to interferon monotherapy and viral load

Table 1 Characteristics of patients with different response to IFN therapy

	Sustained responders	Non-responders	P
Patients (n)	16	69
Age (yr)	51.2 ± 10.7	52.4 ± 11.1	NS
Male/Female	14/2	47/22	NS
History of blood	5/11	21/48	NS
transfusion (+/-)
ALT (IU/I)	110.4 ± 88.0	95.6 ± 61.0	NS
Viral load (Meq/mL)	0.9 ± 0.9	6.9 ± 7.8	0.0027
Histology
Grade	1.9 ± 0.7	2.3 ± 0.8	NS
Stage	1.9 ± 0.7	2.5 ± 0.9	0.0154
Number of amino acid
Substitutions in
ISDR	5.0 ± 1.2	0.7 ± 1.1	< 0.0001
C-terminal part of E2	3.4 ± 1.7	2.5 ± 1.2	0.0149
N-terminal variable region	1.6 ± 1.1	0.9 ± 0.9	0.0148
Substitution of aa 625 (+/-)	6/10	8/61	0.0213

Table 2 Characteristics of patients with small or large viral load

	Patients with small viral load	Patients with large viral load	P
Patients (n)	24	61
Age (yr)	52.5 ± 11.0	52.0 ± 11.1	NS
Male/female	19/5	42/19	NS
History of blood
transfusion (+/-)	8/16	18/43	NS
ALT (IU/I)	89.3 ± 64.1	102.0 ± 67.6	NS
Viral load (Meq/mL)	0.5 ± 0.1	7.8 ± 7.9	0.0001
Histology
Grade	2.2 ± 0.8	2.3 ± 0.8	NS
Stage	2.3 ± 0.8	2.4 ± 0.9	NS
Number of amino acid
Substitutions in
ISDR	3.3 ± 2.5	0.8 ± 1.2	< 0.0001
C-terminal part of E2	3.1 ± 1.7	2.5 ± 1.2	NS
N-terminal variable region	1.5 ± 1.0	0.9 ± 0.9	0.0090
Substitution of aa 625 (+/-)	7/17	7/54	NS