Digging more in the genetic risk prediction of hepatitis C virus epidemic in Egypt: Apoptosis genes polymorphisms in the susceptibility of hepatitis C virus and association with viral load

•Study of Apoptosis genes (TRAIL and FasL) polymorphisms in Egyptian HCV patients.•Significant difference in the distribution of the TRAIL -1525G>A and the FasL-844 T>C polymorphism genotypes between the HCV patients and the controls.•Association of the -1525GA genotype and -844 TT genotype with increased risk of HCV.•No association between TRAIL, FasL and the viral load.•First report of involvement of TRAIL gene polymorphism in HCV. Egypt is confronted with the highest hepatitis C virus (HCV) epidemic. Apoptosis and cellular immune responses are crucial to the clearance or persistence of viral infections. This case-control study was carried out to detect whether apoptosis genes single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) confer risk to HCV in a cohort of Egyptian patients and to explore their association with viral load. One hundred and ninety six blood samples were withdrawn from 96 HCV patients and 100 controls. The Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL) -1525G>A and FasL-844T>C SNPs were genotyped using the polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Hepatitis C viral load was measured using Real time PCR. Results Genotypes distributions of TRAIL -1525G>A and FasL-844 T>C polymorphisms in controls were in accordance with Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (p>0.05). The study showed a statistically significant difference in the distribution of the TRAIL -1525G>A polymorphism genotypes and the FasL-844 T>C polymorphism genotypes between the HCV patients and the controls (p=0.001 and 0.02 respectively), with association of the -1525GA genotype and –844 TT genotype with increased risk of HCV infection (OR=2.68, 1.942 respectively, 95% CI=1.482–4.846, 1.1–3.43, respectively). No significant association was detected between TRAIL, FasL and the viral load. Our results suggest that the FasL -844T>C SNP is implicated in the susceptibility to HCV in Egyptian patients and firstly report the involvement of TRAIL gene polymorphism in the risk of the disease. Therefore we recommend national programs to delineate genetic factors that may put individuals at risk for contracting HCV.