Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Apr 15, 2024; 16(4): 1596-1612
Published online Apr 15, 2024. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v16.i4.1596
Risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma associated with hepatitis C genotype 3 infection: A systematic review
Hamzah Z Farooq, Michael James, Jane Abbott, Patrick Oyibo, Pip Divall, Naheed Choudhry, Graham R Foster
Hamzah Z Farooq, Michael James, Jane Abbott, Naheed Choudhry, Graham R Foster, Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 2AT, United Kingdom
Patrick Oyibo, School of Health and Psychological Sciences, University of London, London EC1V 0HB, United Kingdom
Pip Divall, University Hospitals of Leicester Library, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester LE3 9QP, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Farooq HZ, Choudhry N, and Foster GR contributed to conceptualization; Farooq HZ, James M, and Abbott J contributed to data curation; Farooq HZ and Oyibo P contributed to formal analysis; Farooq HZ and Foster GR contributed to funding acquisition; Farooq HZ and James M contributed to investigation; Farooq HZ and Foster GR contributed to methodology; Foster GR contributed to supervision; Farooq HZ and Oyibo P contributed to validation; Farooq HZ and Oyibo P contributed to visualization; Farooq HZ and Foster GR contributed to roles/writing-original draft; all authors contributed to writing-review and editing.
Supported by the Clinical Research Fellowship Grant from the Wellcome Trust, United Kingdom, No. 227516/Z/23/Z.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hamzah Z Farooq, MBChB, MRCP, MSc, Doctor, Research Fellow, Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London, 4 Newark Street, London E1 2AT, United Kingdom. hamzah.farooq@qmul.ac.uk
Received: November 17, 2023
Peer-review started: November 17, 2023
First decision: December 11, 2023
Revised: December 21, 2023
Accepted: January 23, 2024
Article in press: January 23, 2024
Published online: April 15, 2024
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Neglected hepatitis C genotype 3 (HCV-G3) is a global health concern as it is more oncogenic than other genotypes.

Research motivation

It leads to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in people without cirrhosis and HCV-G3 HCC risk factors are currently unknown with no validated risk assessment tools.

Research objectives

To systematically review and critically appraise all risk factors for HCC secondary to HCV-G3 in all settings. Consequently, we studied possible risk factors for HCC due to HCV-G3 in the literature from 1946 to 2023.

Research methods

We searched the following four databases for articles: Web of Science, Medline, EMBASE, and CENTRAL; for studies published between 1st January 1946 to 17th December 2022.

Research results

Cirrhosis, higher age, and male gender were found to be strongly associated with HCC due to HCV-G3.

Research conclusions

There is currently a lack of data in the literature regarding the risk factors for HCC secondary to HCV-G3. As of yet, no confirmed risk factors have been identified.

Research perspectives

With limited studies on HCV-G3 and HCC, further research is needed to provide a risk assessment tool for HCC secondary to HCV-G3.