Detection of hepatitis B virus DNA in hepatocellular carcinoma

DNA-DNA hybridization was used to examine tissue from 31 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Taiwan for the presence of the hepatitis B virus genome. Twenty-four of the DNA samples had discrete high molecular weight bands when cut with HindIII and hybridized with a radiolabelled HBV DNA probe, and similar results were obtained with 25 of the samples when cut with EcoRI. Thus integrated HBV DNA was present in almost 80% of the specimens. None of the samples had a similar pattern and most contained HBV DNA integrated at multiple sites. Seventeen out of 19 HBsAg carriers and one out of two patients with anti-HBs were found to have integrated HBV DNA in the tumour tissue, providing further evidence of the strong association between HBV infection and development of hepatocellular carcinoma.