THE EFFECT OF HBV GENOTYPE C ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF HCC DIFFERS BETWEEN WILD-TYPE VIRUSES AND THOSE WITH BCP DOUBLE MUTATIONS (T1762A1764)

摘要

Background: Association of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype C with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development remains controversial. HBV basal core promoter (BCP) double mutations (T¹⁷⁶²A¹⁷⁶⁴) are very strong confounding factors of genotypes B and C in HCC development.Objectives: To investigate the association of HBV genotype C with HCC development after controlling for BCP double mutations.Materials and methods: Four hundred and two serum samples from patients with HCC, liver cirrhosis (LC) and chronic hepatitis (CH) and also from asymptomatic HBsAg carriers were analyzed.Results: Genotypes B (31.1%), C (62.8%), and I (6.1%) were detected. With the severity of liver disease the prevalence of genotype B decreased, but genotype C increased. No trend was found for genotype I. The prevalence of BCP double mutations in genotypes C and I viruses was significantly higher than genotype B. BCP double mutations are risk factors for CH, LC and HCC. Genotype C was not identified as a particular risk factor for HCC prior to the stratification analysis but after that genotype C viruses with BCP double mutations were found to be a particular risk factor for HCC (P=0.008, OR=17.19 [95% CI: 2.10-140.41]), but those with the wild-type BCP were not. In the interaction analysis, genotype C and BCP double mutations were found to have a synergistic effect on HCC development (PConclusions: The effect of HBV genotype C on the development of HCC differs between wild-type viruses and those with BCP double mutations, suggesting that not all individuals infected with genotype C HBV are at increased risk of HCC.