Association between hepatic steatosis and MTP gene –493G/T polymorphism in the patients with HCV genotype 1 infection

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) affects approximately 250 million people worldwide. If patients are untreated, 80% of patients with chronic HCV develop liver failure, liver cirrhosis (LC), and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HCV genotype 1 is the most prevalent among the infected individuals with HCV. Hepatic steatosis is known as accumulation of lipid molecules in hepatocytes, and its prevalence is approximately 55% in CHC infection. The reason of HCV-related hepatic steatosis in CHC infection is mainly HCV core protein. HCV core protein inhibits activities of microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) which is a lipid transfer protein expressed in the liver. The –493G/T polymorphism in the promoter region of MTP gene has been associated with HCV-related hepatic steatosis. This polymorphism in MTP gene influences MTP mRNA expression, therefore which might also affect lipid transfer. We evaluated the association between MTP gene polymorphism and the risk of HCV genotype 1-related hepatic steatosis. In the current study, MTP gene polymorphism was explored in 144 biopsy-proven chronic HCV genotype 1 patients by using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. The results showed that there were no any difference between the steatosis and the non-steatosis groups for the allele and genotype frequencies of the -493G/T polymorphism (P > .05). Moreover, MTP genotypes (GG vs. TG + TT) were not associated with BMI, fibrosis stages and the levels of biochemical parameters. Additionally, there were statistically significant differences in the biochemical parameters including triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL, VLDL levels between the two groups (P