Genetic markers associated with interferon-alpha response
View Patent ↗The present invention provides genetic markers on human chromosome 19 that are associated with a beneficial response to interferon alpha (IFN-α). These IFN-α response markers are useful, inter alia, to identify patients who are most likely to benefit from treatment with IFN-α pharmaceutical compositions and drug products, in methods of treating patients having a disease susceptible to treatment with an IFN-α, and in methods for selecting the most appropriate therapy for such patients.
1. A method of testing an individual having a chronic infection with a hepatitis C virus (HCV) for the presence or absence of at least one IFN-α response marker in Table 1 below,
Better
Heterozygous
Homozygous
Response
IFN-α Response
IFN-α Response
PS
SNP
Allele
Marker
Marker
rs12979860
T/C
C
C/T genotype
C/C genotype
rs28416813
G/C
G
G/C genotype
G/G genotype
rs8103142
A/G
A
A/G genotype
A/A genotype
rs12980275
A/G
A
A/G genotype
A/A genotype
rs8099917
A/C
A
A/C genotype
A/A genotype
rs12972991
T/G
T
T/G genotype
T/T genotype
rs8109886
A/C
C
C/A genotype
C/C genotype
rs4803223
T/C
T
T/C genotype
T/T genotype
rs12980602
A/G
A
A/G genotype
A/A genotype
the method comprising obtaining a nucleic acid sample from the individual and assaying the nucleic acid sample to determine the individual's genotype at a polymorphic site (PS) in Table 1, wherein if the individual is heterozygous or homozygous for the better response allele for said PS, then the IFN-α response marker is present and if the individual is homozygous for the other allele for said PS, then the IFN-α response marker is absent.
2. The method of claim 1 , which further comprises generating a test report that indicates the individual's genotype at said PS.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the IFN-α response marker is selected from the homozygous IFN-α response marker genotypes in Table 1.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the polymorphic site is rs12979860, rs28416813 or rs8103142 and the assaying step comprises amplifying from the nucleic acid sample a target region containing the PS and assaying the amplified target region to determine the identity of the pair of alleles at the PS.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hepatitis C virus is HCV genotype 1.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein IFN-α response marker is homozygous C at rs12979860.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising assaying the nucleic acid sample to determine the individual's genotype at each of rs28416813 and rs8103142.