Engin Ataman1 , Murat Harputluoglu1 , Brian Irving Carr2 , Harika Gozukara3 , Volkan Ince4 , Sezai Yilmaz4 2Inonu University Medical Faculty Liver Transplant Institute, HCC Translational Research Unit, Malatya, Turkiye;
3Department of Biostatistic, Inonu University School of Medicine, Malatya, Turkiye
4Department of General Surgery, Inonu University School of Medicine, Liver Transplant Institute, Malatya, Turkiye
Abstract
Background and Aim: Several tumor and non-tumor factors affect the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. This study aimed to investigate the effects of hepatitis B virus (HBV) viral load on tumor and non-tumor factors in patients with HBV-associated HCC.
Material and Methods: Patients with hepatitis B and HCC who presented to the HCC council at the Faculty of Medicine, Marmara University Liver Transplantation Institute, were included in our study. Patients were divided into two groups according to the presence or absence of HBV-DNA, and it was determined whether there were differences between these two groups with respect to tumor and non-tumor parameters.
Results: Comparison of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gam-ma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels between HBV-DNA negative and posi-tive patients showed significant differences (respectively p<0.01, p<0.01, p<0.05, and p<0.05). A major finding was a very significant difference be-tween the two patient groups in terms of portal vein invasion (PVI) and venous invasion (p<0.001 and p<0.01, respectively). However, there was no significant difference in metastasis or lymph node involvement between HBV-DNA negative and positive patients.
Conclusion: Our findings suggest that HBV viral load plays an important role in PVI in HCC patients, and there is a significant relationship between HBV viral load and inflammation.
