UICC World Cancer Congress 2006

Objective:Occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is defined by presence of HBV DNA in the serum or liver in persons lacking hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in the serum. A high prevalence of occult HBV has been reported in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We have already reported that the presence of the HBV-DNA in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) associated-liver injury appears to promote hepatocarcinogenesis from a retrospective study. To confirm this notion, we performed a prospective study on patients with chronic HCV associated-liver injury whether HBV occult infection can promote the development of HCC.

Methods:173 patients with chronic HCV associated-liver injury without HBsAg were studied. Most of them received interferon (IFN) therapy. Liver biopsies were taken from 1997 to 2003 under informed consent. HBV-DNA was determined by the real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method.

Results:Of 173 patients, HBV-DNA was detected in 9 patients (5.2%). At the present time, we could follow 118 patients and 7 patients were HBV-DNA positive (5.9%), 10 patients developed HCC (8.5%). 2 of 10 HCC patients were HBV-DNA positive (HBV positive rate was 20.0%). 8 of 111 HBV-DNA negative patients developed HCC (7.2%), whereas 2 of 7 HBV-DNA positive patients developed HCC (28.6%). Regarding to the response to IFN therapy, Sustained Virological Response (SVR) was obtained in 39% of the HBV-DNA negative patients and in 25% of the HBV-DNA positive patients.