| |
|
Headlines:
|
 |
Back to Gastroenterology Articles
Monday 21st February, 2005
|
|
|
Men with the highest viral load had more than seven times the risk of
hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) compared with men with lower load.
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
Infection with a specific subtype of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and
a high viral load are associated both independently and additively
with an increased risk of a type of liver cancer, according to a new
study in the February 16 issue of the Journal of the National
Cancer Institute.
Chronic infection with HBV has been established as a cause of
hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a type of liver cancer. More than
350 million people worldwide have a chronic infection with one of
the seven known genotypes, or subtypes, of HBV. Although there are
some known risk factors for HCC development, it is unclear what role
HBV subtype or viral load--the amount of the virus in the
blood--might have on cancer development.
To determine whether HBV genotype and viral load are associated
with HCC risk, Ming-Whei Yu, Ph.D., of National Taiwan University in
Taipei, and colleagues conducted a nested case?control study among
male Taiwanese HBV carriers who had not been diagnosed with HCC. HBV
DNA levels--a measure of viral load--and genotypes were determined
for 154 case patients (men who were diagnosed with HCC during 14
years of follow-up) and 316 control subjects.
|
|
|
|
Are you a doctor or a nurse?
Do you want to join the Doctors Lounge online medical community?
Participate in editorial activities (publish, peer review, edit) and
give a helping hand to the largest online community of patients.
Click on the link below to see the requirements:
Doctors Lounge Membership
Application |
|
Greater viral load was associated with an increased risk of HCC;
men in the quintile with the highest viral load had more than seven
times the risk of HCC compared with men in the lowest quintile.
Genotype C was associated with a five-fold increased risk of HCC
compared with all other genotypes. Genotype C was also associated
with increased viral load. In addition, the effects of genotype C
and increased viral load were additive; men carrying genotype C who
had a high viral load had nearly 26.5 times the risk of developing
HCC as men with other genotypes who were in the lowest two quintiles
of viral load.
"[W]e found that higher plasma HBV DNA levels and infection with
genotype C HBV were independently (and additively) associated with
an increased risk of HCC among Taiwanese men," the authors write.
"The longitudinal stability of these factors and their positive
associations with HCC across 10-year age groups ranging from age 30
years to older than age 60 years suggest that they may be important
markers for defining high-risk patients for antiviral treatment
among HBV carriers."
In an editorial, James J. Goedert, M.D., of the National Cancer
Institute, describes the significance of this new research in the
path toward eliminating HBV infection and HBV-associated HCC,
particularly in Asia where genotype C HBV is more common. "The slow,
but sure, approach to reducing liver cancer mortality over the next
50 years is primary prevention of HCC by universal HBV vaccination,
particularly of infants in the remote hillside, grassland, forest,
and riverbank communities of Africa, Asia, and South America, where
HCC mortality is 20-fold higher than it is in the United States," he
writes.
|
|
send
to a friend
printer
friendly version
