Qualitative Expression Analysis of Interferon Alpha Receptor in HCV Patients Resistant to Interferon Therapy

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a leading cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cirrhosis. More than 3% of the world population and about 6% of Pakistanis are currently living with the virus (genotype 3 most prevalent). Interferon alpha (IFN-α) plus ribavirin is widely used standard therapy for chronic HCV treatment all over the world but pegylated interferon along with ribavirin has higher response rate than that of standard interferon. Objective