Hepatitis B and C Virs in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Kim, Young Soo; Lee, Kwang Jae; Moon, Young Soo; Hahm, Ki Baek; Kim, Jin Hong; Cho, Sung Won; Lee, Sang In; Shim, Chan Sup

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To evaluate the role of hepatitis B virus(HBV) and hepatitis C virus(HCV) in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) in Korea, we investigated the status of HBV and HCV infection in Korean patients with HCC.
METHODS
HBV DNA and HCV DNA were detected in the scrum from 45 unseiected patients with HCC.' by polymerase chain reaction.
RESULTS
Among 45 patients with HCC, 31 paticnts(68.9%) were positive for serum HBsAg. HBV DNA was detected in 24(77.4%) ot 31 HBsAg-positive patients and 6(42.8%) of 14 HBsAg-negative patients. Thirty-three patients(82.2'%) were positive for HBsAg and/or HBV DNA. Among 45 patients, anti-HCV was positive in 7 patients(15.5%) by first generation enzyme-linked immunoassay(EIA) and in 11 patients(24.4%) by second generation EIA. Anti-HCV positive patients by first generation EIA were all positive for anti-HCV by second generation EIA. HCV RNA was detected in 4 of ll anti-HCV-positive patients and 4 patients of 34 anti-HCV-negative patients. Among 45 patients, tifteen patients(33.3%) were positive for anti-HCV and/or HCV RNA. HCV infection was evident for 9(24.3%) of 37 patients with HBV infection and 6(75%) of 8 patients without HBV intection. Among 45 patients with HCC, only two patients(4.5%) were all negative for HBsAg, anti-HCV, HBV DNA and HCV RNA.
CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that HBV is thc main etiologic factor for HCC and HCV is considered another risk factor in some patients without evidence of HBV infection. HBV and HCV could be detected in spite of the absence of serological marker tor viral iinfection.