• Ahmed A Al-Qahtani, George Kessie, Damian Dela Cruz, Faleh Z Al-Faleh, and Mohammed N Al-Ahdal.
• Department of Biological and Medical Research, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
• Ann Saudi Med. 2010 Mar 1; 30 (2): 109114109-14.

Background And ObjectivesMany patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection do not respond to antiviral treatment, possibly due to viral quasispecies. We aimed to investigate whether the quasispecies population could be used as a predictor of response to therapy in our patients.MethodsThe quasispecies of HCV genotype 4 (HCV-4) were studied in 25 naïve Saudi patients at zero, three, and six months following interferon alfa and ribavirin combination therapy. Hypervariable region 1 within the E2/NS1 gene of the virus was analyzed by the single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) technique after amplification.ResultsPretreatment DNA bands by SSCP (2-7 bands) were detected in all patients. In those who achieved a complete virological response within six months (viral load P=.53). Two of the four patients with pretreatment high viral load and the same or decreased composition of quasispecies bands responded to the therapy.ConclusionQuasispecies in our studied patients cannot be used to predict responsiveness to treatment, but may offer an explanation for failure of most HCV-4 patients to respond to interferon alfa and ribavirin therapy.

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