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World J Hepatol. Jan 27, 2019; 11(1): 65-73
Published online Jan 27, 2019. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v11.i1.65
Persistent risk for new, subsequent new and recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma despite successful anti-hepatitis B virus therapy and tumor ablation: The need for hepatitis B virus cure
Brianna J Shinn, Aaron Martin, Robert M Coben, Mitchell I Conn, Jorge Prieto, Howard Kroop, Anthony J DiMarino, Hie-Won Hann
Brianna J Shinn, Aaron Martin, Robert M Coben, Mitchell I Conn, Jorge Prieto, Howard Kroop, Anthony J DiMarino, Hie-Won Hann, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA 19107, United States
Author contributions: Hann HW contributed the conception and design of the manuscript, Shinn BJ wrote the paper; Martin A reviewed and also assisted in writing of the paper; Coben RM, Conn MI, Prieto J, Kroop H and DiMarino AJ were all involved with the medical care of the patients mentioned in this manuscript; all contributed in finalizing the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Hann HW receives Research grant from Gilead Sciences, Assembly Biosciences and TriHealth. Shinn BJ, Martin A, Coben RM, Conn MI, Prieto J, Kroop H and DiMarino AJ have no conflict 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/
Corresponding author: Hie-Won Hann, MD, FAASLD, Professor, Liver Disease Prevention Center, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, 1025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, United States. hie-won.hann@jefferson.edu
Telephone: +1-215-9555806 Fax: +1-215-9550770
Received: September 27, 2018
Peer-review started: September 27, 2018
First decision: October 16, 2018
Revised: November 14, 2018
Accepted: December 31, 2018
Article in press: January 1, 2019
Published online: January 27, 2019
Core Tip

Core tip: Despite the advances in the management of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and HBV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the risk for new, subsequent new and recurrent HCC persists even after over a decade of antiviral therapy and initial tumor ablation. This is due to the inability of the current antiviral therapy to eliminate the covalently closed circular DNA from the hepatocyte nucleus. There is a great need for an HBV cure drug.