Hepatitis-B Markers In Sera Of Egyptian Hepatoma Patients

Abstract

The present study was performed on 52 hepatoma patients; 46 of them were of the histopathological type known as hepatic cell carcinoma (HCC), aiming to investigate the possible role of hepatitis B viral (HBV) infection in the etiology of hepatoma; among Egyptians, with special reference to hepatocellular carcinoma. To fulfill this aim, the three hepatitis B markers namely hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb) and hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb) were estimated in sera of patients and healthy controls. The present study revealed a striking correlation between clinical or subclinical history of HBV infection or even carrier rate, and hepatoma, since 94.2% of the hepatoma patients were positive for one or more of the hepatitis markers studied. The higher prevalence of HBV infection was observed among HCC patients (97%) than among other types of hepatoma patients (66%, P = 0.03). HBsAb and HBcAb were positive among 80.8% (P<0.01) and 84.6% (P<0.01) of hepatoma patients ; respectively, whereas they were completely absent in sera of controls. On the other hand HBsAg was positive among 13.5% only of the hepatoma patients, revealing no significant changes when compared to controls (P = 0.133). Nevertheless, no significant correlation was observed between HBsAb positive patients and those who were positive for HBcAb (P = 0.35).