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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 28, 2016; 22(4): 1497-1512
Published online Jan 28, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i4.1497
Significance of hepatitis virus infection in the oncogenic initiation of hepatocellular carcinoma
Caecilia HC Sukowati, Korri E El-Khobar, Susan I Ie, Beatrice Anfuso, David H Muljono, Claudio Tiribelli
Caecilia HC Sukowati, Beatrice Anfuso, Claudio Tiribelli, Fondazione Italiana Fegato ONLUS, AREA Science Park Basovizza, 34149 Trieste, Italy
Caecilia HC Sukowati, Claudio Tiribelli, Department of Medicine, Surgery, and Health Sciences, University of Trieste, Teaching Hospital Cattinara, 34149 Trieste, Italy
Korri E El-Khobar, Susan I Ie, David H Muljono, Laboratory of Hepatitis and Emerging Disease, Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, Jakarta 10430, Indonesia
Korri E El-Khobar, Storr Liver Centre, The Westmead Institute for Medical Research, The University of Sydney at Westmead Hospital, NSW 2145, Australia
Author contributions: Sukowati CHC designed the review scheme and wrote the manuscript; El-Khobar KE, Ie SI and Anfuso B wrote the manuscript; Muljono DH and Tiribelli C provided idea and feedback of the manuscript; all authors read and approved the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors have no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Caecilia HC Sukowati, PhD, Fondazione Italiana Fegato ONLUS, AREA Science Park Basovizza, SS14 km 163.5, 34149 Trieste, Italy. caecilia.sukowati@csf.units.it
Telephone: +39-40-3757926 Fax: +39-40-3757832
Received: May 28, 2015
Peer-review started: June 1, 2015
First decision: July 14, 2015
Revised: August 6, 2015
Accepted: October 12, 2015
Article in press: October 13, 2015
Published online: January 28, 2016
Core Tip

Core tip: According to the most recent data released by the International Agency for Research on Cancer-World Health Organization, liver cancer is the second most common cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for around 90% of liver cancer cases and it is variably distributed according to its main risk factors. The hepatotropic viral [hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV)] infection can cause a disarrangement in cellular pathways through an indirect and/or direct mechanism in liver injury. This review summarize available data in literature regarding the oncogenic properties of HBV and HCV in the initiation of HCC, including their role in the activation of hepatic stem cells.