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World J Gastroenterol. Oct 7, 2014; 20(37): 13573-13581
Published online Oct 7, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i37.13573
Published online Oct 7, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i37.13573
Novel approach to identifying the hepatitis B virus pre-S deletions associated with hepatocellular carcinoma
Zhi-Mei Zhao, Yan Jin, Yu Gan, Yu Zhu, Zhi-Gang Cao, Geng-Sun Qian, Hong Tu, State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200032, China
Tao-Yang Chen, Jin-Bing Wang, Yan Sun, Department of Etiology, Qidong Liver Cancer Institute, Qidong People’s Hospital, Qidong 226200, Jiangsu Province, China
Author contributions: Zhao ZM and Jin Y contributed equally to this work; Tu H designed the research; Zhao ZM, Jin Y, Zhu Y and Cao ZG performed the research; Chen TY, Wang JB, Sun Y and Qian GS contributed materials; Zhao ZM, Gan Y and Tu H analyzed the data; Zhao ZM, Gan Y and Tu H wrote the paper.
Supported by Chinese state key project specialized for infectious diseases, No. 2012ZX10002-008-002
Correspondence to: Hong Tu, MD, PhD, State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 2200-25 Xietu Road, Shanghai 200032, China. tuhong@shsci.org
Telephone: +86-21-64437301 Fax: +86-21-64437196
Received: February 11, 2014
Revised: May 9, 2014
Accepted: July 29, 2014
Published online: October 7, 2014
Revised: May 9, 2014
Accepted: July 29, 2014
Published online: October 7, 2014
Core Tip
Core tip: Hepatitis B virus pre-S deletions are one of the risk factors associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the lack of a convenient method hampers its clinical application. In this study, we develop a capillary gel electrophoresis approach that can quantitatively identify low amounts of deletions within a heterogeneous viral population. By applying this method in a case-control study, we not only confirmed previous observations that pre-S deletions increased the risk for HCC but also reported, for the first time, that only small deletions (≤ 99 bp) have a significant association with HCC, rather than large deletions.