Pre-S2 deletions of hepatitis B virus and hepatocellular carcinoma in children.

UNLABELLED: The cause of early oncogenesis in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related childhood hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unclear. This study investigated whether pre-S deletion of HBV is related to childhood HCC. By using nested polymerase chain reaction, we compared the pre-S sequence of HBV from sera of children with HCC against control children with similar chronic HBV infection. The HBV in sera of children with HCC had a significantly higher rate of pre-S deletion than that of children with chronic HBV infection (p = 0.008). All except one of the pre-S deletions from the HCC group involved the pre-S2 region, whereas no pre-S2 deletion was found in the chronic HBV group (p = 0.003). There was a trend whereby genotype-C sera had a higher rate of pre-S2 deletion than genotype-B sera (p = 0.11). A multivariate logistic regression model revealed that pre-S deletion was an independent risk factor for HCC in children (odds ratio: 36.69, p = 0.015). In conclusion, pre-S2 deletion does not need to take decades to occur; its presence in nearly half of children with HCC, in contrast to its absence in children with chronic HBV infection, suggests a link between pre-S2 deletion and HCC development in children. ABBREVIATIONS: :