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Hepatitis B Virus Gene in Liver Tissue Promotes Hepatocellular Carcinoma Development in Chronic Hepatitis C Patients

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Abstract

The hepatitis B virus (HBV) gene has been detected in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissue negative for the hepatitis B surface antigen and positive for the hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody, but the precise role of the HBV gene in hepatocarcinogenesis has yet to be clarified. We studied the HBV gene in liver tissue several years before the emergence of HCC. Eleven patients diagnosed with HCV-positive chronic liver disease and who developed HCC were assigned to group A. HBV DNA was detected in 8 of the 11 patients (73%). Twenty-five patients, who did not develop HCC, were selected as group B. Six of the group B patients were classified as DNA-positive (24%). The HBV DNA in liver tissue was found to be significantly related to HCC development (P < 0.01). Thus, the presence of the HBV gene in patients with chronic HCV associated-liver injury appears to promote hepatocarcinogenesis, although prospective studies are needed to confirm this result.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Okayama University Medical School, Japan

    Shin-Ichi Fujioka & Norio Koide

  2. Department of Medicine and Medical Science, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, Okayama, Japan

    Shin-Ichi Fujioka, Hiroyuki Shimomura, Yoshiaki Iwasaki, Kozo Fujio, Hiroshi Nakagawa, Yasuhiro Onishi, Shinjiro Takagi, Hideaki Taniguchi, Fumi Umeoka, Hirofumi Nakajima, Akio Moriya, Katsuyuki Nanba, Cheng-Yu Piao, Toshiyuki Shinji & Yasush Shiratori

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  1. Shin-Ichi Fujioka
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  3. Yoshiaki Iwasaki
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Correspondence to Hiroyuki Shimomura.

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Fujioka, SI., Shimomura, H., Iwasaki, Y. et al. Hepatitis B Virus Gene in Liver Tissue Promotes Hepatocellular Carcinoma Development in Chronic Hepatitis C Patients. Dig Dis Sci 48, 1920–1924 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026153800896

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