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Incidence of development of hepatocellular carcinoma in Japanese patients infected with hepatitis B virus is equivalent between genotype B and C in long term
Author(s) -
Haga Hiroaki,
Saito Takafumi,
Okumoto Kazuo,
Tomita Kyoko,
Katsumi Tomohiro,
Mizuno Kei,
Nishina Taketo,
Watanabe Hisayoshi,
Ueno Yoshiyuki
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of viral hepatitis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.329
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1365-2893
pISSN - 1352-0504
DOI - 10.1111/jvh.13099
Subject(s) - hepatocellular carcinoma , hepatitis b virus , hbsag , medicine , cirrhosis , hepatitis b , gastroenterology , incidence (geometry) , liver disease , virology , genotype , virus , biology , gene , biochemistry , physics , optics
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes B (HBV/B) and C (HBV/C) are the most prevalent genotypes among Japanese patients with hepatitis. Reportedly, HBV/C infection has been associated with more severe disease progression, manifesting as developing cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), than HBV/B infection. However, no long‐term studies have examined the development of HCC in HBV/B‐infected patients in Japan. The aims of our study were to compare the incidence of HCC in HBV/B‐ or HBV/C‐infected patients. A total of 241 patients were followed up among 295 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)‐positive carriers. Genotypes of HBV were A in 1% (4/295), B in 61% (179/295), C in 37% (110/295) and D in 1% (2/295) patients, and 96% of HBV/B were infected with subgenotype Bj. The mean age at HCC diagnosis was significantly higher in HBV/B than in HBV/C (67.0 ± 10.0 vs 57.7 ± 8.0 years, P < 0.001). The value of FIB‐4 index was significantly higher in HBV/B than in HBV/C ( P < 0.01). The rate of HCC was higher in HBV/C than in HBV/B, and a significant difference was observed until the 20‐year observation period ( P = 0.048). However, thereafter, HCC associated with HBV/B increased, and no significant difference was observed between HBV/B and HBV/C. HCC development was consistently observed even in HBV/B infection, especially among elderly patients with advanced fibrosis compared with HBV/C. HBV/B‐infected patients developed HCC later in life, and in the long term, we found no differences in incidence of HCC development rates between these two genotypes.