ABO Blood Group and the Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Case-Control Study in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B

Abstract

BackgroundStudies have observed an association between the ABO blood group and risk of certain malignancies. However, no studies of the association with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk are available. We conducted this hospital-based case-control study to examine the association with HCC in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB).MethodsFrom January 2004 to December 2008, a total of 6275 consecutive eligible patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection were recruited. 1105 of them were patients with HBV-related HCC and 5,170 patients were CHB without HCC. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to investigate the association between the ABO blood group and HCC risk.ResultsCompared with subjects with blood type O, the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) for the association of those with blood type A and HCC risk was 1.39 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.05–1.83] after adjusting for age, sex, type 2 diabetes, cirrhosis, hepatitis B e antigen, and HBV DNA. The associations were only statistically significant [AOR (95%CI) = 1.56(1.14–2.13)] for men, for being hepatitis B e antigen positive [AOR (95%CI) = 4.92(2.83–8.57)], for those with cirrhosis [AOR (95%CI), 1.57(1.12–2.20)], and for those with HBV DNA≤105copies/mL [AOR (95%CI), 1.58(1.04–2.42)]. Stratified analysis by sex indicated that compared with those with blood type O, those with blood type B also had a significantly high risk of HCC among men, whereas, those with blood type AB or B had a low risk of HCC among women.ConclusionsThe ABO blood type was associated with the risk of HCC in Chinese patients with CHB. The association was gender-related.

Association between ABO Genotype and Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Koreans

“…In contrast with previous findings from a Chinese study (Li et al, 2012), our findings can be generalized to populations and are also applicable to hepatitis-free individuals. In our study, no statistically significant association was observed for the hepatitis patients, but blood group A showed a higher risk of HCC in hepatitisfree subjects.…”

“…Second, it has been reported that non-O blood group is an independent risk factor for the progression of liver fibrosis in HCV infection (Poujol-Robert et al, 2006). When compared with blood group O, subjects with blood group A tend to have more severely impaired liver function and earlier onset of cirrhosis (Li et al, 2012). This suggests an association between ABO blood groups and liver inflammation and fibrosis progression in patients with CHB.…”

“…This study showed that ABO blood type was associated with the HCC and blood type A; genotype AA increased the risk of HCC, especially in hepatitis-free subjects. The possible association between HCC and blood group A was first reported in a Chinese case-control study, which involved 6,275 chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients including 1,105 HCC incident cases (Li et al, 2012). Among the CHB patients, the risk of HCC was increased in subjects with blood group A (aOR=1.448, 95% CI=1.005 1.897), compared with blood group O.…”

“…Because HBV and HCV are the most important causative inflammatory processes in HCC, we suggest that there may be a relationship between HCC and ABO blood group. Recently, a Chinese study reported that blood group A showed a higher risk of HCC than other blood groups among chronic hepatitis B patients (Li et al, 2012). Thus, we investigated the possible association between ABO genotype, especially blood group A, and HCC risk in a Korean population.…”

“…2011; Poole et al, 2012) and skin cancer (Xie et al, 2010;Cihan et al, 2013), though, there are few reports regarding HCC (Li et al, 2012). A genome-wide association study (GWAS) suggested that ABO blood group antigens may affect systemic inflammation (Melzer et al, 2008;Pare et al, 2008).…”