Ravat Panvichian
Mahidol University, Thailand
Title: Expression of intrahepatic HBsAg in HBV-associated HCC tissues
Biography
Biography: Ravat Panvichian
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer in men and the ninth in women, as well as the second leading cause of cancer-related death globally. Almost 50% of all cases of HCC are associated with chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV). Serum hepatitis B surface Antigen (HBsAg) is an important diagnostic marker of HBV infection. This study aimed to investigate relationships between serum HBsAg and intrahepatic HBsAg in HBV-associated HCC. Serum HBsAg was detected by chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay. Intrahepatic HBsAg was determined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues (matched non-cancerous and HCC tissues) from 88 patients, whose serum HBsAg was positive in 56 patients (63.64%). In serum HBsAg-positive group, intrahepatic HBsAg was positive-staining in 73.2% of non-cancerous tissues, but only in 10.7% of HCC tissues. Significant correlation between serum HBsAg and intrahepatic HBsAg was observed in non-cancerous tissues (p<0.001), but not in HCC tissues (p=0.415). We concluded that intrahepatic HBsAg in HBV-associated HCC tissues was detected by IHC at significantly lower frequency than in non-cancerous tissues. This warrants further investigation into other biomarker(s) of HBV infection in HBV-associated HCC tissues, which might provide more information for insight into the development and progression of HBV-associated HCC.