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GB virus C/hepatitis G virus infection among patients with hepatocellular carcinoma in the inshore area of the Yangtze river, China
Author(s) -
CAO KUN,
MIZOKAMI MASASHI,
ORITO ETSURO,
DING XIN,
UEDA RYUZO,
CHEN GANG,
YU SHUNZHANG,
TOKUDOME SHINKAN
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of gastroenterology and hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.214
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1440-1746
pISSN - 0815-9319
DOI - 10.1046/j.1440-1746.1998.01776.x
Subject(s) - hepatocellular carcinoma , medicine , hbsag , gb virus c , hepatitis c virus , virus , virology , hepatitis b virus , odds ratio , flaviviridae , antibody , genotype , immunology , gene , biology , biochemistry
To investigate the association between GB virus C/hepatitis G virus (GBV‐C/HGV) infection and the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in H city, in the inshore area of the Yangtze River, where high prevalence of HCC has been reported, we determined hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) markers, GBV‐C/HGV‐RNA and GBV‐C/HGV E 2 antibody (anti‐HG E 2 ) among 114 HCC patients and the same number of age‐ and sex‐matched controls. There were no significant differences in the clinical and demographic characteristics between them, except for serum alanine aminotransferase level and history of liver diseases. There was a significant difference of hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) prevalence between the HCC patients (75.4%) and the controls (20.2%; P < 0.01). Hepatitis C virus antibody was detected in 4.4% of the HCC patients, compared with 1.7% of the controls. GB virus‐C/HGV‐RNA and anti‐HG E 2 were detected in 14.9 and 1.7% of the HCC patients, respectively, compared with 7.0 and 1.7% of the controls, respectively. Nucleotide sequences and molecular evolutionary analysis showed the strains of GBV‐C/HGV‐RNA were classified into genotype 2 and 3 (HG and ASIA type). An effect analysis showed an odds ratio (OR) for developing HCC from GBV‐C/HGV infection among HBsAg‐positive subjects was 14.9, with a 95% CI of 4.9–45.4. HBsAg infection alone was 13.83 (95% CI 7.4–25.9) and GBV‐C/HGV infection alone, 3.74 (95% CI 1.1–13.1), respectively. These data indicate that HBV infection is considered to be one of the major risk factors in patients with HCC and although GBV‐C/HGV infection was observed in both the HCC and the control groups, it might not play an important role in the development of HCC in this area.