A team of researchers has identified a novel mutation in the
hepatitis B virus (HBV) in Korea that appears only in men and could help
explain why HBV-infected men are roughly five times more likely than
HBV-infected women to develop liver cancer. Although some women do
progress to cirrhosis and liver cancer, the mutation is absent in HBV in
women. The research is published ahead of print in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.
"This is the first mutation found that can
explain the gender disparity in incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma,"
says Bum-Joon Kim of Seoul National University, Korea, an author on the
study.
Read more... Labels: disease progression, HBV in men, Liver cancer HCC