Aims/Background: To establish the rate of infection with a newly disco
vered Flaviviridae family member - hepatitis G virus (HGV)- in Spanish
patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), chronic alcoholic liver
disease (CALD) with cirrhosis, or hepatitis C virus (HCV)-induced chr
onic hepatitis (CH). Methods. The presence of HGV-RNA was assessed in
sera of 117 patients divided in three groups: group 1: 40 patients wit
h HCC (35 men, mean age 62.7 years, SD 10.9 years); group 2: 41 patien
ts with chronic alcoholic liver disease (CALD) (36 men, mean age 52.5
years, SD 9.8 years); group 3: 36 patients with HCV-induced CH (27 men
, mean age 35.8 years, SD 8.5 years). Serum samples were tested for HG
V-RNA by specific reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-
PCR). Serological markers of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and HCV were inve
stigated in all patients and were negative in CALD patients, as a prer
equisite for their inclusion in the study. All patients in group 1 wer
e also tested for HBV-DNA. Results. Rates of HGV-RNA positivity were,
respectively, 47%, 10% and 28% in groups 1, 2 and 3. Differences were
significant between groups 1 and 2 (p=0.00017) and groups 2 and 3 (p=0
.042), but not between groups 1 and 3 (p=0.079). Conclusions: HGV infe
ction is common in HCC patients, but usually in association with HCV,
indicating that both agents share common routes of infection. HGV was
the only hepatitis virus detected in 12% of HCC patients, but its poss
ible role in the pathogenesis of HCC remains unclear.