Objective: To investigate the frequency of HFE gene variants in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma following chronic hepatitis B and to analyze their relationships.
Methods: 56 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma following chronic hepatitis B (HCC group) and 60 healthy blood donors (control group) were studied for the amino acid dimorphism at codon 63 (His63Asp=H63D) and codon 282 (Cys282Tyr = C282Y) of the HFE gene. The codon 63 and 282 dimorphisms were defined by PCR amplification of genomic DNA samples and restriction enzyme digestion using RsaI for C282Y and BclI for H63D. The association between hepatocellular carcinoma following chronic hepatitis B and HFE mutations were analyzed by Chi-square test.
Results: The genotype frequency of C2/C2 in the HCC group was markedly higher than that in the normal control group (10.7% vs 0) and there was a significant correlation between them. At the same time, the allele frequency of C2 in the HCC group was markedly higher than that in the normal control group (16.1% vs 1.7%) and there was a significant correlation between them also.
Conclusion: The mutation of C282Y may be related with susceptibility to HCC after chronic hepatitis B. This outcome suggests that host HFE mutation may be an important factor related to the pathogenesis of HCC.