Antibody to hepatitis B core antigen in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), anti-HBs, and anti-HB core (HBc) were measured in 124 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in comparison with 299 control subjects of comparable ages, and in 48 cases of chronic hepatitis and 52 cases of hepatic cirrhosis. It was found that 72.6% of the HCC patients were positive for anti-HBc, and 80.6% were positive for at least one test, whereas in the control, anti-HBc was positive in 30.1% and 34.1% were positive for at least one test, the differences between the two groups being significant (P less than 0.01). The frequencies of positive tests for HBsAg and anti-HBc were the highest in HCC followed in decreasing order by cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis and the control group. A possible role of HB virus infection in hepatocellular carcinoma is discussed in relation to other factors.