Amano Keisuke, Sano Tomoya, Ide Tatsuya, Nakano Dan, Tsutsumi Tsubasa, Arinaga-Hino Teruko, Kawaguchi Machiko, Hirai Shingo, Miyajima Ichiro, Torimura Takuji, Kawaguchi Takumi
Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Kurume University School of Medicine, Japan.
Consulting and Support Center for Liver Diseases Fukuoka, Kurume University Hospital, Japan.
Intern Med. 2025;64(8):1133-1141. doi: 10.2169/internalmedicine.3867-24. Epub 2025 Apr 15.
Objective The progression of liver fibrosis and a male sex are risk factors for hepatocarcinogenesis under nucleos(t)ide analog (NA) therapy. Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is a risk factor for hepatocarcinogenesis. This study aimed to investigate the factors involved in hepatocarcinogenesis during NAs therapy, including MAFLD. Methods This study is a retrospective study [observation period: median 9.4 years (2.1-19.6 years)]. The subjects were 164 patients taking NAs for more than 2 years and were hepatitis B envelope antigen (HBeAg)-negative with undetectable hepatitis B virus (HBV)-DNA. The patient had no history of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We investigated the profile of HCC onset after NAs therapy using a decision tree analysis Results HCC developed in 20.7% (34/164) of the patients during the observation period. The prevalence of MAFLD was significantly higher in the HCC group than in the non-HCC group (64.7% vs. 43.9%, p=0.03). In particular, in the low-medium risk group classified by PAGE-B, MAFLD increased the risk of HCC development. According to a multivariate analysis, fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index≥2.67, a male sex, and MAFLD (OR 2.4, 95%CI 1.0-6.0, p=0.04) were independent factors associated with the onset of HCC. In a decision tree analysis, MAFLD was the second classifier for the onset of HCC, next to the FIB-4 index (MAFLD 62.5%, non-MAFLD 28.5%). Conclusions We found that MAFLD was an independent risk factor for HCC in HBeAg-negative patients with undetectable HBV-DNA after NAs therapy. We further revealed that MAFLD was the second-best classifier for hepatocarcinogenesis, next to the FIB-4 index. MAFLD therefore appears to have a synergistic effect on hepatocarcinogenesis with hepatic fibrosis.
World J Gastroenterol. 2015-11-21
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2025-3-28
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2022-6-15
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2025-6-19
Diabetol Int. 2020-7-24