title: Adeno-Associated Virus 2-Mediated Hepatocellular Carcinoma is Very Rare in Korean Patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The incidence and etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) vary widely according to race and geographic regions. The insertional mutagenesis of adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2) has recently been considered a new viral etiology of HCC. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency and clinical characteristics of AAV2 in Korean patients with HCC.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 289 unrelated Korean patients with HCC, including 159 Hepatitis-B-related cases, 16 Hepatitis-C-related cases, and 114 viral serology-negative cases, who underwent surgery at the Samsung Medical Center in Korea from 2009 to 2014 were enrolled in this study. The presence of AAV2 in fresh-frozen tumor tissues was investigated by DNA PCR and Sanger sequencing. The clinical and pathological characteristics of AAV2-associated HCC in these patients were compared with previous findings in French patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The AAV2 detection rate in Korean patients (2/289) was very low compared with that in French patients (11/193). Similar to the French patients, the Korean patients with AAV2-related HCC showed no signs of liver cirrhosis. The Korean patients were younger than the French patients with the same AAV2-associated HCC; the ages at diagnosis of the two Korean patients were 47 and 39 yr, while the median age of the 11 French patients was 55 yr (range 43-90 yr).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  AAV2-associated HCC was very rare in Korean patients with HCC. Despite a limited number of cases, this study is the first to report the clinical characteristics of Korean patients with AAV2-associated HCC. These findings suggest epidemiologic differences in viral hepatocarcinogenesis between Korean and European patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Kyoung Jin
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jongan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: June Hee
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jae Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Joh
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Choon Hyuck David
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea.|Department of Laboratory Medicine & Genetics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. kimjw@skku.edu.
authors.forename: Jong Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People; D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D000229:Dependovirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D055029:Inverted Repeat Sequences / Q000235:genetics; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010322:Parvoviridae Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D056910:Republic of Korea; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; D004279:DNA, Viral; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins; C068734:rep proteins, Adeno-associated virus 2
keywords: Adeno-associated virus 2; Epidemiology; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Korean