Background: In spite of designing and applying an effective vaccine against Hepatitis B virus (HBV), chronic infection with this virus is still one of the most important health problems worldwide. Host genetic background including single nucleotide polymorphisms play a significant role in chronicity or clearance of the infection. The final product of programmed cell death 1 gene (PDCD1) is expressed frequently on T-cells and in chronic viral infections, prevent the virus-specific T-cell response against the virus. In this study, the association of a single nucleotide polymorphism (+7146A/G) in intron 4 of PD1 gene with chronic hepatitis B infection in Iranian population has been assessed.

  Materials and Methods: 212 chronic HBV patients and 208 healthy controls were analyzed in this case-control study. Genomic DNA of the studied individuals was extracted and after performing polymerase chain reaction (PCR), polymorphism of +7146 was determined via RFLP method.

  Results: Frequencies of GG, GA and AA genotypes on position 7146 of the intron 4 of PD1 gene were 77.4%, 20.7% and 1.9% in patient group and 80.8%, 15.4% and 3.8% in control group, respectively. After statistical analysis, No significant difference was observed between patient and control groups (p=0.198).

  Conclusion: Genotype frequencies in the studied population are in accordance with the results of previous studies. Results of the present study suggest that there is not any association between A/G single nucleotide polymorphism in intron 4 of PD1 gene and susceptibility to chronic hepatitis B in Iranian population.

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a member of hepadenaviridae family, which is infectious for humans and a few animal species. Successful clearance and elimination of infection from the body or development of HBV infection to chronic disease depend on the host genetic background in immune system genes. Interleukin-12 (IL12) and also Interleukin-12 Receptor B1 (IL 12 RB1) are the key factors in the spontaneous clearance of viral infections, especially HBV. The aim of the present research is to investigate the association between Interleukin-12 receptor B1 gene polymorphism (rs11575934 A/G) and susceptibility to chronic Hepatitis B virus infection.

Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, genomic DNA of 150 chronic HBV infected patients and 150 healthy controls were extracted from peripheral blood cells. Single nucleotide polymorphism (rs11575934 A/G) was genotyped using polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP).

Results: The frequency of GG, AG, AA genotypes was 6.7%, 40.7%, and 52.7% in chronic patients and 12.7%, 41.3%, and 46% in control group, respectively. No statistically significant difference between case and control groups has been observed (p=0.176).

Conclusion: In the present study, no significant correlation between rs11575934 A/G single nucleotide polymorphism of the IL12RB1 gene and susceptibility to chronic hepatitis B virus infection has been observed. According to the study, this polymorphism does not affect the susceptibility to chronic HBV infection.

Background: Parvovirus 4 (PARV4) was first discovered in 2005, in a hepatitis B virus–infected injecting drug user (IDU). To date, the best evidence about PARV4 transmission is parenteral roots and comes from IDU individuals. It seems that the prevalence of the virus in the normal population is very low. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of PARV4 virus among patients with chronic HCV infection compared with healthy controls and related risk factors among these groups.

Materials and Methods: A total of 206 patients, including 103 patients with chronic HCV infection and 103 healthy controls, were studied by use of nested-PCR and also real-time PCR techniques.

Results: AST enzyme levels with a mean of 40.45+34.84 and 18.58+5.9 in patients and healthy group respectively and the amount of enzyme ALT among patients with a mean of 40.45+35.75 and 21.50+11.35 in patients and healthy group respectively, were reported. Finally, after screening all DNA samples from patients and controls, we discovered that none of these people are infected with the PARV4 virus.

Conclusion: This study is the first to investigate the occurrence of PARV4 among HCV patients in Iran. The results show that, the virus is not important in Iranian population, even in patients with blood born infections such as HCV and further studies in other areas and various groups are required.