Can Occult HBV Infection Alone Cause HCC?
–Another Critical Question Relates to the Basis for the Failure to Detect Circulating HBsAg in Patients With Occult HBV Infection “…It is very likely that occult HBV infection is a cofactor in the development of HCC… Several studies found that patients co-infected with HBV and HCV have increased risks of HCC compared with those with mono-infection… studies on occult HBV infection in patients with HCC must provide details on other causes of chronic liver disease… The possibility that transient acute HBV infection many decades earlier may result in chronic low-grade liver injury and HCC is alarming and need to be confirmed in larger studies…” Occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is generally defined as the detection of HBV-DNA in the serum or liver tissue of patients who test negative for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). Occult HBV infection was first reported in the early 1980s when hybridization techniques for the detection of HBV DNA became available. These studies
