Integration of tumour and viral genomic characterizations in HBV-related hepatocellular carcinomas

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common liver cancer. We characterised HCC associated with infection compared with non-HBV-related HCC to understand interactions between viral and hepatocyte genomic alterations and their relationships with clinical features.

Frozen HBV (n=86) or non-HBV-related (n=90) HCC were collected in two French surgical departments. Viral characterisation was performed by sequencing HBS and HBX genes and quantifying HBV DNA and cccDNA. Nine genes were screened for somatic mutations and expression profiling of 37 genes involved in hepatocarcinogenesis was studied.

HBX revealed frequent non-sense, frameshift and deletions in tumours, suggesting an HBX inactivation selected in HCC. The number of viral copies was frequently lower in tumour than in non-tumour tissues (p=0.0005) and patients with low HBV copies in the non-tumour liver tissues presented additional risk factor (HCV, alcohol or non-alcoholic steato-hepatitis, p=0.006). P53 was the most frequently altered pathway in HBV-related HCC (47%, p=0.001). Furthermore, TP53 mutations were associated with shorter survival only in HBV-related HCC (p=0.02) whereas R249S mutations were identified exclusively in migrants. Compared with other aetiologies, HBV-HCC were more frequently classified in tumours subgroups with upregulation of genes involved in cell-cycle regulation and a progenitor phenotype. Finally, in HBV-related HCC, transcriptomic profiles were associated with specific gene mutations (HBX, TP53, IRF2, AXIN1 and CTNNB1).

Integrated genomic characterisation of HBV and non-HBV-related HCC emphasised the immense molecular diversity of HCC closely related to aetiologies that could impact clinical care of HCC patients.