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High TT virus load as an independent factor associated with the occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma among patients with hepatitis C virus‐related chronic liver disease
Author(s) -
Tokita Hajime,
Murai Seiyou,
Kamitsukasa Hiroshi,
Yagura Michiyasu,
Harada Hideharu,
Takahashi Masaharu,
Okamoto Hiroaki
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.10129
Subject(s) - hepatocellular carcinoma , viremia , viral load , cirrhosis , medicine , virology , hepatitis c virus , gastroenterology , liver disease , chronic liver disease , virus , torque teno virus , risk factor , viral disease , viral hepatitis , immunology , biology , genotype , gene , biochemistry
The TT virus (TTV) load was estimated in sera obtained from 237 patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐related chronic liver disease including 42 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), by real‐time detection PCR using primers and a probe derived from the well‐conserved untranslated region of the TTV genome, which can detect all known TTV genotypes. Of the 237 patients studied, 18 (8%) were negative for TTV DNA, 87 (37%) had low TTV viremia (1.3 × 10 2 –9.9 × 10 3 copies/ml), and 132 (56%) had high TTV viremia (1.0 × 10 4 ‐2.1 × 10 6 copies/ml). Various features were compared between the patients with high TTV load (n = 132) and those with no TTV viremia or low viral load (n = 105). High TTV viremia (≥10 4 copies/ml) was significantly associated with higher age ( P < 0.05), past history of blood transfusion ( P < 0.001), complication of cirrhosis ( P < 0.05) or HCC ( P < 0.0005), lower HCV RNA titer ( P < 0.05), and lower platelet count ( P < 0.01). On multivariate logistic regression analysis, high TTV viral load was a significant risk factor for HCC ( P < 0.05), independent from known risk factors such as complication of liver cirrhosis ( P < 0.0001) and high age (≥65 years, P < 0.05), among all 237 patients. Furthermore, high TTV viral load was an independent risk factor for HCC among the 90 cirrhotic patients ( P < 0.05). These results suggest that a high TTV viral load is associated independently with the complication of HCC and may have prognostic significance in patients with HCV‐related chronic liver disease, although whether high TTV viremia mediates the progression of HCV‐related chronic liver disease remains to be defined. J. Med. Virol. 67:501–509, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.