Meta-analysis of the association between anti-HBc seropositivity and a poor prognosis of chronic HCV infection

Persistent Hepatic Inflammation Plays a Role in Hepatocellular Carcinoma After Sustained Virological Response in Patients with HCV Infection

Objective: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has long been treated with interferon therapy (IFN). Currently, more than 90% of IFN-treated patients show a sustained virological response (SVR) when also treated with ribavirin and/or a protease inhibitor. Histological inflammation and fibrosis improve in IFN-treated patients, which indicates HCV clearance. IFN also reduces the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, a small proportion of patients with SVR develop HCC. To investigate the causes of hepatic carcinogenesis after SVR, we compared the liver histological findings before IFN to those after the development of HCC. Patients and methods: In total, 602 patients infected with type C chronic hepatitis or with liver cirrhosis who received IFN therapy during the period from 1992 through 2015 were included in this study. We assessed 14 of the 287 patients who achieved an SVR. Results: HCC was diagnosed by computed tomography, angiography or liver biopsy. The longest time from the SVR until HCC detection was 16.5 years, and the mean was 7.2±4.6 years. Nine of the 14 patients underwent surgery and one radiofrequency ablation. The histological findings of 10 patients were available for comparison. The comparison of the histological findings before treatment with those after the HCC diagnosis revealed an amelioration of liver fibrosis and other inflammatory changes. All ten patients showed improvements in fibrosis and steatosis. However, we observed that mild inflammatory change persisted from 1.8 years to 16.5 years after the confirmation of SVR in all cases. Conclusion: We suspect that persistent histological inflammation is one of the factors contributing to hepatocarcinogenesis (i.e., HCC development) even after successful treatment.

Relationship of hepatitis B virus infection to the recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after direct acting antivirals

Recently, two conflicting articles about recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after direct acting antivirals (DAA) against hepatitis C virus (HCV) were published. We investigated the relationship between DAA and HCC recurrence. Eligible patients were (1) history of HCC and treated curatively with interventions, and (2) interferon-free DAA therapy was initiated after eradication of HCC. We analyzed contributing factor for HCC recurrence. Ten out of 23 participants (43%) encountered recurrence of HCC. Age, sex, diabetes mellitus, fibrosis score, chemistry, and alpha-fetoprotein did not differ between patients with recurrence and patients without recurrence. The patients with recurrence had significantly higher values of antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) than the patients without recurrence, 6.06±3.75 vs. 0.91±2.43 (p=0.0019). The relative risk of HCC recurrence comparing anti-HBc positive to negative was 5.2 (95% confidence interval 1.40 to 19.32). Odds ratio was 22.0 (95% confidence interval 2.5 to 191.1). We conclude that anti-HBc positivity was a strong contributing factor for HCC recurrence after DAA therapy.

Association between anti-HBc positivity and hepatocellular carcinoma in HBsAg-negative subjects with chronic liver disease: A meta-analysis

A meta-analysis was performed to ascertain to what extent hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-negative/anti-hepatitis B core (anti-HBc)-positive subjects with chronic liver disease are at a higher risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) than the anti-HBc-negative.All studies included had to fulfill the following characteristics and inclusion criteria: they investigated the relationship between HBsAg-negative/anti-HBc-positive serology and the occurrence of HCC, whether a case-control or cohort study, they provided relative risk (RR) or odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), were available as a full text written in English, and were published and indexed up to April 2015.Twenty-six original studies met the inclusion criteria, allowing a meta-analysis on 44,553 patients. The risk of HCC among the 9986 anti-HBc-positive subjects was 67% higher than in the 34,567 anti-HBc-negative (95% CI = 1.44-1.95, P < 0.0001). The results were similar when groups of patients with a different stage of liver disease (patients with chronic liver disease, patients with cirrhosis), with different ethnicity (Asian and non-Asian) and etiology (HCV and non-HCV) were considered. The risk of HCC was significantly higher in the 651 anti-HBs/anti-HBc-positive patients (RR = 1.36; 95% CI = 1.17-1.58, P = 0.03) and in the 595 anti-HBs-negative/anti-HBc-positive subjects (RR = 2.15; 95% CI = 1.58-2.92, P < 0.0001) than in the 1242 anti-HBs/anti-HBc negative. However, the RR from 8 studies indicated that the risk of HCC was 35% lower among the anti-HBs/anti-HBc-positive subjects compared to the anti-HBs-negative/anti-HBc-positive (RR = 0.65; 95% CI = 0.52-0.8, P < 0.0001).This meta-analysis shows that in HBsAg-negative subjects with chronic liver disease, anti-HBc positivity is strongly associated with the presence of HCC, an association observed in all subgroups according to the stage of the disease, etiology, and ethnicity.

Hepatitis B vaccination: a completed schedule enough to control HBV lifelong? Milan, Italy, 17-18 November 2011

The Viral Hepatitis Prevention Board (VHPB) organized an international meeting in Milan in November 2011 on the question of whether completing a course of hepatitis B vaccination confers lifelong protection against hepatitis B virus infection and its complications. Presentations covered vaccine efficacy including factors influencing long-term protection; breakthrough infections; the immunological effect of natural boosting; the effectiveness of universal hepatitis B vaccination in different countries, and issues relating to national, regional and global policies on booster vaccination. Findings from four continents were presented at the meeting, with data now extending to follow-up for nearly 30 years after full primary vaccination. The results reported add to the extensive and growing body of knowledge, demonstrating that in spite of subsequent decline and ultimate loss of detectable serum anti-HBs, a full primary course of hepatitis B vaccine confers complete protection against acute clinical disease and chronic hepatitis B infection for long periods of time. Our understanding of the role and functions of T and B cells in protective immunity deepens, although the picture is still complex. A framework for future work in several areas emerged from the meeting, including monitoring and surveillance of vaccination programmes, breakthrough infections, hepatitis B in immigrant populations, and vaccine-escape viral mutants. One further concrete recommendation is the setting up of a working group to standardize definitions on terms such as "immunity", "protection", "immune memory", "non-responders", "long-term", "anamnestic response", "breakthrough" and "vaccine failure".