Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause of development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, with an estimated global prevalence at 3% in approximately 180 million carriers and approximately 4 million people are newly infected each year (1). According to the WHO, HCV is present worldwide, with some countries having chronic infection rates as high as 5% or more. In India, 12.5 million people are infected with HCV (2). This virus is spread primarily through blood contact associated with intravenous drug use, poorly sterilized medical equipment, and transfusions (3). The standard treatment for chronic hepatitis C (CHC) consists of pegylated interferon (Peg-IFN) and ribavirin, but reports show that these drugs are not well tolerated (4). Recent observations on the genetic determinants of HCC have established that a single nucleotide polymorphism in the interleukin (IL)-28B gene influences the outcome of HCV treatment. The genomic region associated with response to HCV treatment is located on chromosome 19 and contains several SNPs in linkage disequilibrium around the IL28B gene (5). Some of these variations may result in alteration of the IL28B gene, which is strongly associated with a greater than 2-fold difference in the sustained virologic response (SVR) rate in IFN-based therapy (4). The IL28B rs 12979860 (rs 60) genotype (CC, CT, TT) was the first IL28B gene polymorphism to be identified and was associated with twofold improvement among the European, Hispanic, and African-American populations. The second polymorphism identified at genotype rs 8099917 (rs 17) (TT, TG, GG) was found to be strongly associated in individuals of Australian and Northern European ancestry (6). Different studies have shown that race, age..... . middle of paper ......progression of hepatitis C virus in a Moroccan patient. PLoS One. 2013; 8(1):e5479317. Sivaprasad S, Rao PN, Gupta R, Ashwini K, Reddy DN. The genotype distribution and allele frequency of IL28B gene polymorphism in AndhraPradesh, India. J Clin Exp Hepatol 2012; 2(1): 112-11518. Lutz P, Wasmuth JC, Nischalke HD et al. The progression of liver fibrosis in HIV/HCV genotype 1 co-infected patients is linked to the T allele of the rs12979860 polymorphism of the IL28B gene. Eur J Med Res. 2011; 16(8):335-4119. Rembeck K, Alsio A, Christensen PB, Farkkila M, Langeland N et al. Impact of IL28B-related single nucleotide polymorphisms on hepatic histopathology in chronic hepatitis C genotypes 2 and 3. PLoS One 2012; 7:e29370. (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0029370)