Incidence of Hepatitis D Virus Infection in Japanese Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma —Immunohistochemical Investigation of the Delta Antigen—

Abstract

In order to clarify the incidence of the delta agent among hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) in Kurume, where the hepatitis B infection and its related HCC are most prevalent in Japan, liver tissues from sero hepatitis B surface antigen-positive autopsy cases, with or without HCC, were immunohistochemically investigated for detection of the delta antigen. Only one patient (1.796) among 58 patients with HCC was found to have deltaantigen in the nuclei in the hepatocytes, which were diffusely distributed throughout the non-cancerous liver. None of 26 patients with liver cirrhosis showed delta-antigen in the liver tissue. The incidence is so low that the delta agent is unlikely to have a role in the development 'of HCC in our areas. © 1992, Kurume University School of Medicine. All rights reserved.