There is a paucity of local data regarding the epidemiology of HCV genotype in a multi-ethnic society like Malaysia. Methods: This is a cross-sectional prospective study conducted from 2008 till 2012. Patients who were detected to have HCV antibodies were included and tested for the presence of HCV RNA using Cobas Amplicor Analyzer (Roche Diagnostic).

Genotyping was then carried out using single Liner Array HCV Genotyping Strip MLN8237 mw (Roche Diagnostic). Results: Our result showed that HCV genotype 3 is the most predominant genotype here (61.7%) followed by genotype 1 (36.0%), genotype 2 (1.7%) and genotype 6 (0.6%) as shown in table 1. Our result is different from the early study by Greene et al where the predominant genotype was genotype 1. It is also interesting to note that the distribution of different genotypes were rather similar Kinase Inhibitor Library nmr across all the major ethnic races. Conclusion: In conclusion, genotype 3 is the predominant HCV genotype and there are no

significant ethnic differences in the distribution of the HCV genotypes in Malaysia. Key Word(s): 1. Hepatitis C; 2. Genotype; 3. Predominant; 4. Malaysia; Table 1 Ethnic group HCV genotype (%) Total (% across all the ethnic races) 1 2 3 6 Malay(% within genotype \ ethnic) 48 (37.2%\33.1%) 1 (16.7%\0.7%) 96 (43.4%\66 2%) 0 145 (40.5%) Chinese (S within genotype \ ethnic) 53 (41.1%\37.3%) (66.6%\28%) 83 (37.6%\58.S%) 2 (100%\1.4%) 142 (39.7%) Indian (% within genotype \ ethnic) 19 (14.7%\36.5%) 1 (16.7%\1.9%) 32 (14.5%\61.6%) 0 52 PTK6 (145%) Others (% within genotype \ ethnic) 9 (7.0%\47.4%) 0 10 (4.5%\52.6%) 0 19 (5.3%) Total (% across all the genotypes) 129 (36.0%) 6 (1.7%) 221 (61.7%) 2 (0.6%) 358 Presenting Author: YAN XU Additional Authors: YONGGUI ZHANG, JIAN JIAO, CHANGYU ZHOU, PING ZHAO, HONGHUA GUO, YAN LI, SHANGWEI JI, JIANGBIN

WANG Corresponding Author: YAN XU Affiliations: china-japan union hospital of jilin university Objective: To investigate the efficacy of individualized therapy with PEG-IFNα-2a and the effect of antiviral therapy on hepatic histology in chronic hepatitis B patients. Methods: 178 antiviral-naïve hepatitis B patients received subcutaneous Peg-IFNα-2a treatment (180 μg weekly) with an individualized regimen based on response at 12 weeks. Subjects not achieving early response received nucleoside combination therapy, or 48-week treatment; 38 subjects underwent hepatic histological examinations before and after treatment. Results: With combination treatment (entecavir or adefovir), mean hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA reduction at 48 weeks of post-treatment follow-up was significantly greater than with conventional treatment; the SVR rate was significantly higher with entecavir (69.4%) and adefovir (71.1%) than with conventional treatment (32.6%, p < 0.05).