title: Gender differences in the livers of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and chronic hepatitis C infection.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A unique causative aspect of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a gender difference in its incidence. To determine the specific factors that contribute to a male predominance, we analyzed the clinicopathological factors, and genetic and epigenetic alterations of HCCs in male and female patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively analyzed three cohorts of patients: the first cohort consisted of 547 patients identified with the first event of HCC, the second cohort included 176 HCC patients, and the third 127 patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Male patients were found to have HCC more frequently than female patients in cases of non-cirrhotic liver (p = 0.0030 by the χ(2) test), especially in hepatitis C-positive cases. However, there were no gender-specific differences in the genetic and epigenetic alterations of cancer-related genes. Deposition of iron was more severe in male CHC patients than in female patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Male patients with CHC develop HCC more frequently when they have a non-cirrhotic liver than do female patients. This gender difference could be, at least partially, attributed to a different degree of iron deposition, which contributes to the development of HCC in the absence of liver cirrhosis in men with CHC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Faculty of Medicine, Kinki University, 377-2 Ohno-Higashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka, Japan. naoshi@med.kindai.ac.jp
authors.forename: Naoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nishida
authors.forename: Tadaaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arizumi
authors.forename: Sosuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hayaishi
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takita
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kitai
authors.forename: Norihisa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yada
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hagiwara
authors.forename: Tatsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Yasunori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Minami
authors.forename: Kazuomi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ueshima
authors.forename: Toshiharu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakurai
authors.forename: Iwao
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ikai
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kudo
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D019175:DNA Methylation / Q000235:genetics; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D005260:Female; D016147:Genes, Tumor Suppressor; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics*; D020084:Long Interspersed Nucleotide Elements; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000235:genetics*; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D051176:beta Catenin; D007501:Iron