High prevalence of hepatitis C virus antibody and RNA in patients with oral cancer

Abstract

We have investigated the correlation between the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV), which is detectable in saliva, and oral cancer and other digestive tract cancers in the Northern Kyushu region of Japan. Anti-HCV antibodies were detected in sera from 24 of the 100 patients with oral cancer (24%, p < 0.05 vs the control group, p < 0.01 vs the stomach cancer group), in 11 of 104 patients with non-malignant diseases receiving dental treatment (the control group, 10.6%), and in 12 of 113 patients with stomach cancer (10.6%). HCV-RNA was detected in sera from 17 of 100 oral cancer patients (17%, p < 0.05 vs the control group) and 4 of 104 patients of the control group (3.9%). These results indicate a high prevalence of HCV infection in oral cancer patients, which warrants a systematic study of etiological associations between oral cancer and HCV.