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High seroprevalence of human herpesvirus type 8 in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

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Abstract

Cirrhosis patients have immunologic insufficiency and a high seroprevalence of human herpesvirus type 8 (HHV-8). Nearly all hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients are cirrhotic and have immunoabnormalities. This study aimed to assess the HHV-8 seroprevalence and hemograms in HCC patients. Blood samples from 95 HCC patients, 95 age-, sex-, and Child–Pugh class-matched cirrhotics, and 95 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were analyzed for anti-HHV-8 antibodies, HHV-8 DNA, and lymphocyte, monocyte, and platelet counts. HCC patients had lower lymphocyte and platelet counts and a higher monocyte count than the healthy controls (each p < 0.0001). HCC patients, and particularly those with a severe Child–Pugh class, had higher platelet counts than the corresponding cirrhosis patients (p = 0.003 and 0.002, respectively). HHV-8 seropositivity and antibody titers in HCC patients were comparable with values in cirrhosis patients and were much higher than in controls (both p < 0.0001). HCC patients, but not cirrhosis patients, had a higher prevalence of high anti-HHV-8 antibody titers (≥1:160) than healthy controls (p = 0.003). HCC patients with lymphopenia or thrombocytopenia had lower HHV-8 seropositivity than those without lymphopenia and thrombocytopenia (p = 0.04 and 0.01, respectively). One each of HCC and cirrhosis patients were positive for HHV-8 DNA. HCC patients seemed to suffer from less severe or shorter duration of portal hypertension compared with Child–Pugh class-matched cirrhosis patients. HCC patients had a high HHV-8 seroprevalence, which seemed to be inversely associated with lymphopenia and thrombocytopenia.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants DTCRD95(2)-04 and DTCRD97-04from the Buddhist Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Medical Sciences, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan

    C.-C. Su, T.-C. Hsieh & T.-Y. Chu

  2. Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, School of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan

    C.-C. Su

  3. Departments of Clinical Pathology and Anatomic Pathology, Buddhist Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan

    C.-C. Su

  4. School of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan

    K.-C. Tseng

  5. Department of Internal Medicine, Buddhist Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan

    K.-C. Tseng

  6. Department of Family Medicine, Buddhist Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan

    M.-N. Lin

  7. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Center, Hualien, Taiwan

    T.-Y. Chu

Authors
  1. C.-C. Su
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  2. K.-C. Tseng
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  3. M.-N. Lin
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  4. T.-C. Hsieh
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  5. T.-Y. Chu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to C.-C. Su or T.-Y. Chu.

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Su, CC., Tseng, KC., Lin, MN. et al. High seroprevalence of human herpesvirus type 8 in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 34, 55–62 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-014-2206-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-014-2206-8

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