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About the Authors:
Thomas R. O'Brien
* E-mail: [email protected]
Affiliation: Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
James E. Everhart
Affiliation: Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
Timothy R. Morgan
Affiliations Division of Gastroenterology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, United States of America, Gastroenterology Service, VA Long Beach Healthcare System, Long Beach, California, United States of America
Anna S. Lok
Affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America
Raymond T. Chung
Affiliation: Gastrointestinal Unit, Medical Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Yongwu Shao
Affiliation: Information Management Services, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States of America
Mitchell L. Shiffman
Affiliation: Liver Institute of Virginia, Bon Secours Health System, Newport News, Virginia, United States of America
Myhanh Dotrang
Affiliation: CSC, Rockville, Maryland, United States of America
John J. Sninsky
Affiliation: Celera Corporation, Alameda, California, United States of America
Herbert L. Bonkovsky
Affiliations Departments of Medicine and Molecular & Structural Biology and The Liver-Biliary-Pancreatic Center, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut, United States of America, Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States of America
Ruth M. Pfeiffer
Affiliation: Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
and the HALT-C Trial Group
Introduction
Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an important cause of liver cancer and end-stage liver disease in the United States and worldwide [1], [2]. About 60–80% of persons who become infected with HCV fail to clear the virus spontaneously. Treatment with pegylated-interferon-alfa/ribavirin is associated with many adverse effects and results in a sustained virological response (SVR; i.e., undetectable HCV RNA six months post-treatment) in only 40–50% of interferon-naïve patients who are infected with HCV genotype 1 [3] (the most common viral genotype in the United States and many other developed countries) [4]. Recently, genome wide association studies (GWAS) found single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located...