Abstract: Objective To investigate the relationship between estrogen receptor α gene polymorphisms and therapeutic response to interferon-alpha in patients with chronic hepatitis B. Methods PvuII polymorphisms of estrogen receptor α（ESR1）gene were analyzed in 100 naive patients with chronic hepatitis B receiving interferon-alpha treatment by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique. Results Among PP，Pp and pp genotype group，the early virological response were markedly higher in PP genotype groups （70.8%） than 40.0% in Pp and 37.2% in pp genotype group（P＜0.05），while neither the combined response nor HBeAg disappearance or seroconversion among PP，Pp and pp genotype groups had no significant difference（P＞0.05）. Conclusion PvuII genotype polymorphism of ESR1 is associated with early virological response to IFN-α in patients with CHB and the detection of PvuII genotype polymorphism might be helpful for predicting early response to IFN-α treatment.

Key words: Hepatitis B, Estrogen receptor, Polymorphism, Interferon-alpha, Early response