Abstract:

Objective To assess the correlations of a newly-developed hepatitis B virus（HBV） infection marker,hepatitis B core-related antigen（HBcrAg）,with covalent closed circular DNA（cccDNA） and HBV DNA in tumor tissue and adjacent non-tumor tissue among hepatocellular carcinoma（HCC） patients. Methods A total of 95 HBV infection-related patients who received hepatic resection for HCC were enrolled. Serum HBcrAg were determined by chemiluminescence immunoassay. HBV DNA and cccDNA in tumor tissue and adjacent non-tumor tissue were quantified by polymerase chain reaction（PCR） fluorescent probe. Results The levels of HBcrAg in hepatitis B e antigen（HBeAg）⁺/hepatitis B e antibody（HBeAb）^- group,HBeAg⁺/HBeAb⁺ group and HBeAg^-/HBeAb⁺ group were （6.41±1.18）,（5.80±0.50） and（5.16±0.94）lgU/mL,respectively,and there was statistical significance among these 3 groups（P<0.001）. There were correlations of HBcrAg with adjacent non-tumor tissue cccDNA and adjacent non-tumor tissue HBV DNA in HCC patients（r=0.359 and 0.440,P<0.001）. In HCC patients of TNM stage Ⅰ,HBcrAg was associated with adjacent non-tumor tissue cccDNA and adjacent non-tumor tissue HBV DNA（r=0.491 and 0.578,P<0.01）. In HCC patients with TNM stage Ⅱ,HBcrAg was correlated with adjacent non-tumor tissue cccDNA and adjacent non-tumor tissue HBV DNA（r=0.339 and 0.402,P<0.05）. However, in HCC patients with TNM stage Ⅲ,no correlation of HBcrAg and adjacent non-tumor tissue cccDNA and adjacent non-tumor tissue HBV DNA. Conclusions HBcrAg can help with distinguishing HBeAg positive and negative HCC patients. Although HBcrAg has correlations with adjacent non-tumor tissue HBV DNA and cccDNA in hepatitis B surface antigen（HBsAg）⁺ HCC patients,it does not show better correlations than other serum markers such as HBeAg and HBV DNA.

Key words: Hepatitis B core-related antigen, Hepatitis B e antigen, DNA, Hepatitis B virus, Hepatocellular carcinoma