HCV Genotype 6 Increased the Risk for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Among Asian Patients With Liver Cirrhosis. American journal of gastroenterology Lee, M., Hsiao, T. I., Subramaniam, S. R., Le, A. K., Vu, V. D., Trinh, H. N., Zhang, J., Jin, M., Wong, V. W., Wong, G. L., Nguyen, M. H. 2017

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a well-documented risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Seven HCV genotypes have been classified, and the genotypes show a great variety of geographic distribution. HCV genotype 6 is prevalent in Southeast Asia and has been less studied than the other genotypes.This follow-up study was designed to evaluate the natural history of HCV genotype 6. The cohort enrolled 851 Asian patients consisting of 222 with HCV genotype 6 and 629 with other genotypes. The incidence of HCC per 1,000 person-years of various HCV genotypes was estimated by dividing the new HCC cases to the person-years of follow-up. The adjusted hazards ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated by Cox's proportional hazards models.After 4072 person-years of follow-up, there were 96 newly-developed HCC cases, confirming an incidence of 23.6 per 1000 person-years. By stratifying cirrhosis at study entry, the cumulative risk of HCC among HCV genotype 6 vs. non-6 was 2.9 vs. 2.2% for those without cirrhosis (P=0.45) and 76.2% (95% CI: 55.6-96.8%) vs. 36.2% (95% CI: 28.7-39.1%) for those with cirrhosis (P<0.05), respectively. Among patients with cirrhosis, HCV genotype 6 was significantly associated with HCC compared to patients with non-6 genotypes, with the adjusted HR=2.12 (1.33-3.39), P<0.05. In a model treating patients with genotypes other than 1 or 6 as the reference, the adjusted HR for HCC for HCV genotypes 1 and 6 were 1.13 (0.56-2.27) and 2.34 (1.12-4.86), respectively.Among patients with cirrhosis, those with HCV genotype 6 infection should be given high priority for antiviral therapy to decrease HCC risk and for vigilant adherence to HCC surveillance.Am J Gastroenterol advance online publication, 25 April 2017; doi:10.1038/ajg.2017.123.

View details for DOI 10.1038/ajg.2017.123

View details for PubMedID 28440303