title: Association between hepatitis B virus core promoter rearrangements and hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the major etiological agent of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Whether any particular viral variants are associated with HCC is unknown. We studied 53 Gambian patients with HCC and 33 HBsAg positive controls. A functional part of HBV core promoter and whole precore region were sequenced directly and/or after cloning. HBV DNA was amplified from sera from 27 HCC patients and in all controls. Fourteen (52%) patients and 12 (36%) controls (NS) were found to harbor an HBV strain with G to A transition mutation at position 1896 leading to HBeAg negative phenotype. Nine (33%) HCC patients and 2 (6%) controls (p < 0.01) harbored a mixture of wild type and HBV strains with deletions/insertions; strong consensus sequences for topoisomerase I breakage were located in the vicinity of these changes. In Africa, HCC is associated with HBV strains that have deletions/insertions in the HBV core promoter region.
authors.affiliation: Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Laskus
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Radkowski
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nowicki
authors.forename: L F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rakela
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics*; D005714:Gambia; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics*; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D009154:Mutation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D016662:Virus Integration
chemical_list: D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens