Association of serum IFN-λ3 with inflammatory and fibrosis markers in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection

Background Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the major causes of liver cancer. The single nucleotide polymorphisms within the IFNL3 gene, which encodes interferon (IFN)-λ3, are strongly associated with the response to pegylated IFN-α (PEG-IFN-α) plus ribavirin (RBV) therapy in chronic hepatitis C (C-CH) patients. However, the roles of IFN-λ3 in chronic HCV infection are still elusive. In this study, we aimed to identify clinical and immunological factors influencing IFN-λ3 and evaluated whether serum IFN-λ3 levels are involved or not involved in the response to PEG-IFN-α plus RBV therapy.