Hepatitis B virus (HBV)-DNA-positive hepatocellular carcinoma following hepatitis B virus infection in a child

Integrated hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA sequences were found in neoplastic liver tissue of a hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-negative child who had previously suffered from HBsAg-positive chronic active hepatitis and was anti-HBs and anti-hepatitis B core (HBc) positive at the time of tumor development. Reintegration pattern was consistent with the presence of a single integration site of the HBV genome into cellular DNA, and clonal proliferation of such infected cells. A normal liver, tested in the same experiment with the same amount of total DNA, was negative for viral DNA sequences. These findings support the possible oncogenic role of HBV in the development of liver cancer, not only in adults, but also in children, even in patients who are negative for HBsAg at the time of tumor diagnosis.