Prevalence of Antibody against Non‐A, non‐B Hepatitis Virus in Japanese Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

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Abstract
Antibodies against a possible causative agent of non‐A, non‐B hepatitis, hepatitis C virus (HCV), in Japanese patients with hepatocellular carcinoma were analyzed using the enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system from Ortho Diagnostic Systems, Japan. Fifty of 58 cases of hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg)‐negative hepatocellular carcinoma were positive for the antibody (86%) and 8 of 42 cases of HBsAg‐positive hepatocellular carcinoma were positive (19%). Among patients with HBsAg‐negative hepatocellular carcinoma, the prevalence of the antibody was greater among those who had received a blood transfusion (97%) than among those with no history of transfusion (70%). Only 3 of 54 patients with cancers other than hepatocellular carcinoma were found to be antibody‐positive (5.6%) and all three patients had a history of blood transfusion. These results show a close relationship between the presence of anti‐HCV antibody and HBsAg‐negative hepatocellular carcinoma in Japan.