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Hepatitis C–associated hepatocellular carcinoma
Author(s) -
Hasan Fuad,
Jeffers Lennox J.,
De Medina Maria,
Reddy K. Rajender,
Parker Talley,
Schiff Eugene R.,
Houghton Michael,
Choo Quilim,
Kuo George
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.488
H-Index - 361
eISSN - 1527-3350
pISSN - 0270-9139
DOI - 10.1002/hep.1840120323
Subject(s) - hepatocellular carcinoma , medicine , hepatology , cirrhosis , hbsag , hepatitis c , hepatitis b , hepatitis , gastroenterology , antibody , liver disease , population , alcoholic liver disease , viral hepatitis , alcoholic hepatitis , immunology , hepatitis b virus , virus , environmental health
In the United States, a large percentage of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma are serologically negative for hepatitis B. We conducted a retrospective study to determine the prevalence of hepatitis C antibody in the sera of 59 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who were HBsAg‐negative and had no evidence of alcoholic liver disease, primary biiary cirrhosis, autoimmune hepatitis, hemochromatosis or α 1 ‐antitrypsin deficiency. Twenty patients (34%) were hepatitis C antibody‐positive and hepatitis B core antibody‐negative. All twenty patients had underlying cirrhosis, and seven (35%) had histories of transfusions. Eleven (19%) additional patients were also hepatitis C antibody‐positive but were hepatitis B core antibody‐positive as well. Twenty‐one (36%) patients were both hepatitis C antibody‐ and hepatitis B core antibody‐negative and seven (12%) were hepatitis C antibody‐negative but hepatitis B core antibody‐positive. The prevalence of hepatitis C antibody was also determined among three other population groups serving as controls and found to be 14% in 28 HbsAg‐positive patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, 44% in 76 patients with cryptogenic cirrhosis and 0.5% in 200 consecutive volunteer blood donors. We conclude that hepatitis C antibody is prevalent among patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and may therefore be a common causative agent of this disease. A significant number of patients with and without cirrhosis, negative for hepatitis C antibody and hepatitis B core antibody, remain without a discernible cause for this malignancy. Perhaps a second‐or third‐generation test will detect hepatitis C antibody in some of these patients. (H EPATOLOGY 1990;12:589–591).