Prevalence of delta antigen/antibody in B-viral-associated hepatocellular carcinoma.

Sera from 39 patients with B-viral associated hepatocellular carcinoma were studied for the presence of delta antibody using solid-phase blocking radioimmunoassay. Only one patient (2.5%) had circulating delta antibody in the serum, and stainable delta antigen in the nuclei of the nontumor liver. A similar study of the sera of 57 patients with chronic B-viral disease without hepatocellular carcinoma revealed 18 patients (31.5%) with delta antibody. This significant difference (P less than 0.001) in the prevalence of delta antibody among these two groups is probably related to the epidemiologic background, reflected as a racial difference.