Objective：To explore the role of interleukin-28B during antiviral treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Methods：Anticoagulant whole blood of 46 patients with chronic hepatitis C were collected.Interleukin-28B single nucleotide polymorphism of rs8099917 genotype was tested by improved multiplex ligation detection reaction.At the same time，102 cases of serum samples were collected，including 46 cases of chronic hepatitis C before treatment and 44 cases of chronic hepatitis C after 12-week therapy，12 cases of healthy controls.The serum levels of interleukin-28B were examined by ELISA and the correlation of interleukin-28B with liver function was analyzed. Results：（1）rs8099917 TT genotype was 87.0%（40/46） and rs8099917 GT genotype was 13.0%（6/46） a－mong the 46 cases of chronic hepatitis C. There was no statistical significance in the serum levels of interleukin-28B between chronic hepatitis C group and healthy group，hepatitis C viral genotype 1b group and non-1b group，high viral load group and low viral load group，rs8099917 TT genotype group and GT genotype group（P>0.05）. There was no correlation between serum interleukin-28B and aspartate aminotransferase，alanine aminotransferase，γ-glutamyl transferase，platelet.（2）There were significant differences in expres－sion of interleukin-28B among 44 patients with chronic hepatitis C after 12-week therapy，which was higher in the early virological response group than in non early virological response group（P=0.000）. Conclusion：The rs8099917 genotypes of patients with chronic hepatitis C are mainly composed by TT genotype in Chongqing area.There is no significant difference in the levels of interleukin-28B between rs8099917 TT genotype group and rs8099917 GT genotype group，but the expression of interleukin-28B have ef－fect on early virological response.