Abstract: Objective To explore the correlation between blood IL-28B genotype and allele frequencies and clinical phototypes of hepatitis B viral（HBV） infection. Methods A total of 145 healthy persons and 453 patients with HBV infection including 45 with asymptotic HBV carriers（ASC）,181 with chronic hepatitis B（CHB）,69 with HBV-induced liver cirrhosis（LC）,79 with hepatocellular carcinoma（HCC） and 79 with hepatitis B-induced liver failure（LF） in Jiangsu Province were recruited in this study. All the patients and controls were of Han nationality. Peripheral blood IL-28B gene polymorphisms（rs8099917 and rs12979860） were genotyped by PCR and directed sequencing of DNA samples. The IL-28B genotypes and allele frequencies were compared between patients with hepatitis B and healthy controls. Results The genotypes of IL-28B rs12979860 gene showed CC,CT and TT,and LF patients with CC genotype and C allele frequencies were 96.2% and 98.1%,significantly higher than 87.6% and 93.1%,respectively （OR=0.257, 95%CI=0.068~0.973,P=0.045;OR=0.255,95%CI=0.070~0.928,P=0.038） in the healthy controls; the genotypes of IL-28B rs8099917 demonstrated TT,TG and GG,and LC patients with TT genotype and T allele frequencies were 92.8% and 96.4%,significantly higher than 86.2% and 92.4%,respectively （OR=0.288,95%CI=0.087~0.948,P=0.041;OR=0.299,95%CI= 0.096~0.926,P=0.036） in the healthy controls. Conclusion IL-28B gene polymorphisms might be associated with progression of HBV infection in Han populations in Jiangsu Province. C allele of IL-28B rs12979860 gene and T allele of rs8099917 might be the factors that trigger HBV infection disease deterioration.

Key words: Hepatitis B, Interleukin-28B, Gene polymorphisms, Genotype, Allele, Clinical phototypes