title: Low prevalence of hepatitis C infection in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cases and population controls in Guangxi, a hyperendemic region for HCC in the People's Republic of China.
abstract: Southern Guangxi, China has one of the highest incidences of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the world. Serum samples collected from subjects of an earlier case-control study (39 cases, 41 controls) and from a random sampling of a residential male cohort (n = 100) were tested for antibodies for the hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) using ELISA version 2.0 with confirmation by RIBA version 2.0. Only one of 141 (0.7%, upper 95% confidence limit, 3.2%) control subjects and none of 39 (upper 95% confidence limit, 6.07%) HCC cases tested positive for anti-HCV. Our results indicate that hepatitis C infection is not an important environmental determinant of HCC risk in this hyperendemic region.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles 90033, USA.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Govindarajan
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000209:etiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence