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Correlation between Secondary Structure of an Amino‐Terminal Portion of the Nonstructural Protein 3 (NS3) of Hepatitis C Virus and Development of Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Author(s) -
Ogata Satoshi,
Ku Yonson,
Yoon Seitetsu,
Makino Shigeru,
NaganoFujii Motoko,
Hotta Hak
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.2002.tb02732.x
Subject(s) - hepatocellular carcinoma , ns3 , hepatitis c virus , biology , virology , virus , correlation , group a , hepacivirus , medicine , hepatitis b virus , gastroenterology , cancer research , geometry , mathematics
Correlation between sequence variation of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not yet been demonstrated. In the present study, we analyzed sequence diversity of the NS3 protein of HCV and its possible correlation with HCC. On the basis of secondary structure of an amino‐terminal portion of NS3, HCV subtype 1b (HCV‐1b) isolates were classified into two groups, A and B. Group A isolates were found in 4 (11%) of 36 patients with HCC, and 22 (63%) of 35 patients without HCC. On the other hand, group B isolates were found in 32 (89%) of 36 patients with HCC, and 12 (34%) of 35 patients without HCC. The distribution patterns of those groups were significantly different between patients with and without HCC ( P <0.001). HCV isolates of group B were found in both tumor and adjacent non‐tumor tissues obtained from patients with HCC, suggesting that the emergence of group B isolates was not a result of, but rather a possible causative factor for development of HCC. Taken together, our present results suggest that HCV‐1b strains of group B are highly associated with HCC and that the secondary structure analysis of NS3 would be useful to predict high risk for development of HCC in HCV‐1b‐infected patients.