ASSOCIATION BETWEEN HEPATITIS-B VIRUS CORE PROMOTER REARRANGEMENTS AND HEPATOCELLULAR-CARCINOMA

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the major etiological agent of hepatocellul ar carcinoma (HCC). Whether any particular viral variants are associat ed with HCC is unknown. We studied 53 Gambian patients with HCC and 33 HBsAg positive controls. A functional part of HBV core promoter and w hole 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 harbo r an HBV strain with G to A transition mutation at position 1896 leadi ng to HBeAg negative phenotype. Nine (33%) HCC patients and 2 (6%) con trols (p<0.01) harbored a mixture of wild type and HBV strains with de letions/insertions; strong consensus sequences for topoisomerase I bre akage 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. (C) 1998 Academic Press.