Abstract
To assess whether there is an additive effect between chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection on the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), 400 consecutive cirrhotic patients were followed prospectively with periodic abdominal ultrasound examination and measurement of serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level every 4 months. During a follow-up of 1185 person-years, 80 (20%) patients developed HCC, with an annual incidence of 6.8%. The annual incidence was 2.0% in patients negative for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibodies to HCV (anti-HCV), 6.6% in patients with HBsAg alone, 7.0% in patients with anti-HCV alone and 13.3% in patients co-infected with HBV and HCV. There was a positive linear trend in the annual incidence of HCC among patients without either marker, patients with single viral infection and patients with dual viral infection (P[for trend] < 0.0001). Cox's proportional hazard model indicated that HCV/HBV co-infection [hazard ratio (HR), 6.41; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.80-22.80], anti-HCV alone (HR, 3.74; 95% CI, 1.07-13.07) and HBsAg alone (HR, 4.06; 95% CI, 1.23-13.34) were independently risk factors of HCC. In conclusion, there is an additive and independent effect modification of HCV and HBV infection on HCC development.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 24 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $10.79 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tsai, J., Jeng, J., Ho, M. et al. Effect of hepatitis C and B virus infection on risk of hepatocellular carcinoma: a prospective study. Br J Cancer 76, 968–974 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1997.493
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1997.493
This article is cited by
-
Sequential immunological analysis of HBV/HCV co-infected patients during Peg-IFN/RBV therapy
Journal of Gastroenterology (2012)
-
Interferon lowers tumor recurrence rate after surgical resection or ablation of hepatocellular carcinoma: a pilot study of patients with hepatitis B virus-related cirrhosis
Journal of Gastroenterology (2007)
-
Natural history of chronic hepatitis B
Current Hepatitis Reports (2004)