Association of suppressor of cytokine signalling 3 polymorphisms with insulin resistance in patients with chronic hepatitis C

Summary Suppressor of cytokine signalling 3 is thought to be associated with insulin resistance in patients with chronic hepatitis C. We evaluated the role of suppressor of cytokine signalling 3 polymorphisms in determining insulin resistance in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Two hundred and ninety untreated hepatitis C virus‐infected patients without diabetes and cirrhosis were genotyped for the SNPs rs4969168, rs4969170 and rs12952093 of suppressor of cytokine signalling 3 using the TaqMan Genotyping Assay. We found that the rs4969170 AA genotype and rs4969170 A allele frequency were significantly more common in the insulin‐resistant group than the non‐insulin‐resistant group (89.5% vs 76.1%, OR = 2.693, 95% CI: 1.221‐5.939, P = 0.012 and 94.8% vs 88.0%, OR = 2.463, 95% CI: 1.151–5.271, P = 0.017, respectively). Haplotype G‐C was likely associated with non‐insulin resistance (adjusted P = 0.011). Multiple logistic regression analysis indicates that the independent risk factors for insulin resistance are the SNP rs4969170 AA genotype (OR = 3.005, 95% CI: 1.194–7.560, P = 0.019), HCV genotype 1 (OR = 2.524, 95% CI: 1.099–5.794, P = 0.029) and BMI (OR = 0.514, 95% CI: 0.265–0.999, P = 0.05).